One of the biggest advantages of the PC platform is its freedom. Anyone can release a game anywhere and grab a following. However, when it comes to paid storefronts, there’s almost a sense of tribalism towards Valve’s Steam platform with many gamers refusing to even buy a game that isn’t available on the store.
Witchfire, a brilliant roguelike FPS game from Painkiller creator Adrian Chmielarz started life as an Epic Games Store timed exclusive, but has seen significant success on Steam since. With over 500,000 copies sold since its early access launch, Witchfire has been a hit for the studio, and part of that is due to the game’s EGS beginnings.
“I like very much that EGS is there,” the developer said, “because I think competition is always good. I mean it’s as simple as this, and I did get a lot of free games out of that.”
“There’s nothing to do there but to buy. So that will always lose to a shop that is also emotional.”
Painkiller and Witchfire creator Adrian Chmielarz
Chmielarz explained that the investment early on to be a timed Epic Games Store exclusive saved the studio. “Epic allowed us to keep our independence because we were running out of money,” he said. “There are only so many years that a walking simulator [The Vanishing of Ethan Carter] can support your game.
The developer explained that the deal wasn’t only good for the studio, but that the timed exclusivity was “great for everybody because we survived, got the money enough to survive for longer and get to Steam.”
“And Epic got Witchfire for a year that was only theirs, and then Steam players got actually a game that was more mature because we spent a year with a smaller audience at EGS perfecting that game and adding features,” he continued.
While Chmielarz obviously has a lot of gratitude towards the Epic Games Store deal that saved Witchfire and the studio, the veteran FPS developer understands why gamers do not like to buy games on Epic’s platform. Not only is Steam more mature as a storefront, but the developer explains that it’s become a “home” to its users.
“People are not, basically, using EGS as their home, it’s not home to them,” he explained. “I don’t know if it’s deliberate or not but they [EGS] don’t have written reviews. They don’t have the forums. There’s nothing to do there but to buy. So that will always lose to a shop that is also emotional and you can basically engage with the shop.”
Chmielarz explained that “EGS is a shop, and Steam is a community” with the forums, guides, artwork, workshop, Steam Points, comments and more all combining to create a localised habitat for fans of every game to interact.
“There’s actually so much happening in that community hub for every single game, much more than I ever imagined,” he said, “and it’s no wonder that people sort of get invested emotionally in Steam. And then they feel like, ‘Okay, my home is here, so my personal library is here’. So when something is released exclusively to Epic, something they want to play, then it’s a problem for them because now I’m gonna [have to] cheat on my home library with some other shop.”
Despite being the competition for years now, Epic Games Store has failed to evolve as fast as fans would like. In the past month, the store finally added gifting, allowing friends to buy each other games on the storefront, a feature Steam has benefitted from since 2007.
“[Valve] they are not resting on their laurels,” Chmielarz said, “because the features they are adding to steam, like your personal diary, almost every single week there’s a cool new feature. These guys really, really know what they’re doing.”
While Witchfire may have originally been an Epic Games Store exclusive, the title has certainly found its home on Steam. Since its Steam debut in 2024, the game has seen a surge in players with over 1.6 million wishlists waiting for the game’s 1.0 launch next year.
