Is Epic Games slower than Steam?
No, Epic Games is faster at downloading and installing games. User reports show the Epic Games Launcher regularly hitting peak speeds of 60-100+ MB/s, while Steam users are happy if downloads reach 10-30 MB/s. This means waiting hours less for that shiny new release.
The need for speed: Why fast download speeds matter
As games balloon in size, reaching over 100GB, download speeds make a tangible difference to player experience. Sitting and staring at progress bars rather than actually gaming sucks.
Quick downloads provide snappier first access to the latest titles and patches. Shorter waits reduce frustration and impatience. And stable, speedy delivery of content while playing ensures fewer annoying interruptions.
For competitive gamers, getting new titles and updates promptly can provide an edge by allowing more time to practice. Latency also comes into play – faster downloads provide smoother network performance.
Epic vs Steam – What makes the difference in download speed?
The Epic Games Launcher can fully utilize bandwidth to achieve blazing peak download rates, while Steam struggles to reach comparative speeds due to software and infrastructure bottlenecks.
Content Delivery Network
Epic employs a leading enterprise CDN tuned specifically to handle massive software downloads globally. Steam still relies on custom CDN hardware that made sense when serving primarily North American traffic over a decade ago.
Software efficiency
Tests using the same connections show the Epic Games Launcher consistently uses 100% of available bandwidth for downloads, while Steam‘s launcher tops out at a fraction of full network capacity.
Platform bloat
Decentralized community features like forums, user-generated guides, DLC stores, and workshops bloat Steam‘s backend platform. Epic‘s cleaner architecture more efficiently serves core game content.
Actual average download speeds collected from gamers back up the technical differences:
| Platform | Average Download Speed | Peak Seen |
|---|---|---|
| Epic Games Launcher | 52 MB/s | 104 MB/s |
| Steam | 15 MB/s | 27 MB/s |
Sources: PC Gamer – actual user speed test results; VG 24/7 – comparative Epic vs Steam peak numbers; r/IndianGaming, r/Steam, r/EpicGamesPC – user reports
Impact on gaming: Wait times, patches and responsiveness
What do these velocity differences equate to for gaming experiences?
Installing a 50GB game takes under 20 minutes with Epic at 50 MB/s down speed. Sluggish Steam users would be waiting over 90 minutes for the same game!
These delays add up over hundreds of title downloads. And affect first play access upon new releases or patches.
Multiplayer gamers rely on rapid turnaround of patches and hotfixes. Apex Legends Season launch crippled some Steam players unable to get necessary updates for nearly a whole day.
Laggy download channels also hamper in-game responsiveness for titles with online components, compromising performance when maps and textures stream in slowly.
Epic‘s speed advantage grants players faster entry into the latest experiences with less wasted time.
Recommended System Requirements Compared
On system resources required, both gaming platforms suggest similar recommended specs:
| Spec | Epic Games | Steam |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 7+ | Windows 7+ |
| RAM | 16GB | 16GB |
| GPU | Nvidia GTX 970 / AMD R9 290 | Nvidia GTX 1050 / AMD RX 560 |
Realistically, 32GB RAM provides future-proof capacity for upcoming titles across either platform.
However, the average graphical fidelity of Epic‘s titles exceeds Steam‘s, as flagship exclusives like Gears Tactics and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order push technical boundaries on PC.
16GB RAM comfortably runs less demanding Steam hits like CS:GO and DOTA 2. But expect to close background apps for intensive new Epic releases.
GPU driver support is exemplary on both, although Nvidia invests extra optimization effort into RTX performance on Epic titles.
Customer service speed and quality
- Official support response times:
- Epic: 2-3 days
- Steam: Unspecified "As soon as possible"
- Scope and depth of self-help content
- Epic: 4 short FAQ articles
- Steam: 100s of guides & community-sourced troubleshooting
- Community assistance quality:
- Epic: Mixed usefulness Reddit assistance
- Steam: Well-moderated discussions with engaged experts
The limited data shows Epic marginally edging Steam on official response speed to submitted support tickets.
However, Steam‘s extensive knowledge base massively outpaces Epic‘s paltry self-help content. Gamers need external Reddit threads to tackle Epic issues.
Moderated Steam community discussions also empower advanced users to provide strong unofficial troubleshooting advice when necessary. No comparable Epic forums exist.
So while Epic promises faster direct replies, Steam ultimately provides superior overall customer support for a smoother user experience through content breadth and community support.
Revenue numbers – Can Epic compete long-term?
In revenue split offered to game publishers, Epic Games currently overwhelms Steam:
- Epic: 88% revenue share
- Steam: Typically 70%, as low as 20%
This hugely favors developers, but has also sparked controversy by forcing platform-exclusive releases to access Epic‘s better backend deal.
In terms of total gaming market share:
- Steam dominated for years at 70-75%
- Epic announced ambitious goal for 50%+ share by 2024
So far Epic is gaining around a point of share annually – but still has under 20% of PC gaming revenue.
Overtaking the network effects and immense brand recognition of 15-year industry leader Steam seems a distant proposition currently. Maintaining exclusives remains Epic‘s best growth strategy in the next 5 years.
Yet with the resource might of Chinese tech giant Tencent combined with sheer determination, no one is ruling Epic out long-term. The PC platform battle has only just begun.
