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The Epic Games Store recently published its 2025 Year in Review, highlighting a record-breaking $400 million spent on third-party PC titles—a 57% increase over previous years. Total PC player spending hit $1.16 billion, supported by a catalog that has now expanded past 6,000 games. While these figures show aggressive growth, the platform still faces a long road to becoming a true competitor to Steam. Steam’s entrenched community features, social strength, and significantly larger library of niche and legacy titles continue to keep the majority of the gaming population rooted in that ecosystem. To keep the momentum, Epic is maintaining its developer-first approach, allowing studios to keep 100% of their first million dollars in revenue and offering flexible in-game payment solutions that bypass store fees.
Botany Manor: 19th-Century Estate Puzzles
Currently, you can claim Botany Manor for free until February 12 at 11:00 AM ET. This is a first-person puzzle game set in a Victorian estate where you play as a retired botanist researching how to bloom rare, forgotten seeds. It requires you to investigate clues throughout the manor, such as temperature charts and ancient textbooks, to solve the environmental conditions needed for each plant. If you prefer to have it on Valve’s platform, the Steam Store currently lists it at its full $24.99 price point. For a middle ground, the G2A Marketplace has keys available for approximately **$5.40**, which is a significant drop if you miss the Epic window.
Pixel Gun 3D: Poison Retro Set
The second freebie this week is the Poison Retro Set for the competitive shooter Pixel Gun 3D. This DLC pack is a high-value claim for active players, bundling three poisonous variants of top-tier weaponry: the Digital Sunrise sniper, the Laser Cycler backup, and the Wave of Poison. It effectively gives you a pre-built, retro-themed loadout without the usual grinding or in-game currency cost. This set usually retails for $24.99 on the Steam Store, so claiming it on Epic for $0 is the most resourceful way to gear up before the rotation on February 12.
Store Engagement and Future Social Features
Epic’s Free Games Program remains its strongest hook, with 662 million titles claimed in 2025 alone. The report also notes that 78% of these games saw all-time peak concurrent player records during their free week on the store. Looking toward the rest of 2026, the company plans to launch “Epic Web Shops” and a completely rebuilt launcher architecture this summer to address long-standing stability and speed issues. They are also planning to introduce game-independent party systems and voice chat in the second quarter, features that are essential if they hope to eventually bridge the social gap that currently gives Steam its primary competitive advantage.
