Epic Games Store Looks Back on 2021, Promises More Free Games in 2022

The Epic Games Store has published its annual year in review, for 2021, and it is promising more weekly free games for all of 2022 too.

“The Epic Games Store continued to grow in 2021 and we’re excited about what we have in store for 2022,” the announcement post explains. “We’re proud to be part of a growing community of developers, publishers, players, and creators who made 2021 another humbling year for us.”

Some of the more interesting statistics that Epic provided include:

User base. The Epic Games Store user base grew by 34 million people to over 194 million in 2021. Daily active users peaked at 31.1 million, the firm says, while December’s monthly active users peak reached 62 million users, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year.

More games. There are now over 915 titles available for sale in the Epic Game Store, almost double the number from 2020.

Money. Gamers spent $840 million in the Epic Games Store in 2021, up 20 percent year-over-year. 36 percent of that was spent on third-party titles, up 12 percent YOY.

Free games. Epic continued to give away free games each week in 2021, and it gave away 89 free games in all in 2021, for a value of $2120. Over 765 million free games were claimed by customers.

Looking ahead to 2022, Epic says that it will continue its weekly free games giveaways. It’s looking at improving Epic Achievements and the store’s Library and Download functions. And it will add user-driven Ratings and Polls. You can learn more from the Epic Games Store Roadmap.

Most important, however, Epic plans many big game releases in 2022, including Forspoken, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Sifu, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, Rumbleverse, STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Saints Row, and UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection.