IMO, it comes down to having a clear, customer-facing message. Steam has spent a decade plus saying "we're going to make PC gaming a better experience than goi

IMO, it comes down to having a clear, customer-facing message. Steam has spent a decade plus saying "we're going to make PC gaming a better experience than going to a Gamestop and buying a box with a CD-ROM in it." They've delivered in many ways-- from the technical/distribution space, to shaking price expectations, to providing discoverability for indie creators, to building a community big enough that people can use their reviews as a shopping tool. Epic came in and made some mealy-mouth comments about "we want to be a lower-margin store so devs keep more cash", but that doesn't directly mean much to the consumer. Rather than offering something inherently compelling, they have to force people into the door with exclusives, forced accounts, and selling dollar bills for 90 cents (subsidized discounts and giveaways.) A good counterpoint is GOG. They don't match Steam point for point, but they've made a clear niche out of benefits customers can see (no-DRM, and a catalog of retro titles that would be a pain to acquire and run today)