To get to the point, we can remember that the store now has 194 million users in 2021 compared to 160 million in 2020. The month of December, in particular, saw a record 62 million active users, compared to 56 million for the month of December 2020. All of this, however, is not worth much if the expenses do not follow. And again, the Epic Games Store continues to grow with $840 million spent by users in 2021, compared to $700 million in 2020. For sure, Fortnite and Rocket League still represent a very large part of this sum since the games from third-party studios and publishers are only $300 million, which is still a 12% increase from 2020.
Logically, Fortnite and Rocket League are still present in the top 10 of the biggest hits of the year, while Grand Theft Auto 5 was already present in 2020. The other games have the merit of being new, or at all. less games released in 2021 on the store. They are called Hitman 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Chivalry 2, Darkest Dungeon 2, Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Genshin Impact, all titles for which Epic Games had negotiated an exclusivity in order to plant some thorns in the foot of the colossus Steam. In 2021, the Epic Games Store also recorded a peak of 13.2 million users connected simultaneously, compared to not far from 28 million on the side of Valve.
We cannot take stock of the Epic Games Store without mentioning the question of free games. Even if Epic Games was a little less generous by offering 89 games against 103 the previous year, the store generated a record of 765 million downloads with these free games. Of course, the profitability of the case is not discussed in detail by Epic Games. As part of its lawsuit against Apple, the Tim Sweeney camp itself mentioned that it does not expect to make money with the Epic Games Store before 2023 at best. Its forecast for the year 2021 was a loss of 139 million dollars.
We are delighted to confirm that the weekly free games program will continue in 2022.
Finally, if ever confirmation was needed, the weekly free games program will continue its journey in 2022 and you can also get your hands on Daemon x Machina without further delay. After the integration of features from the future such as the shopping cart and achievements, the new year should bring new social and community features as well as a more powerful launcher. Epic Games will also address player reviews of the library and download management, while pros will be treated to a full launch of self-publishing tools already tested in beta.