Big news for anyone who was dreading the idea of hunting down yet another Epic Games Store login: Lords of the Fallen 2 is no longer tied to an Epic exclusivity deal. CI Games and Epic have officially terminated their multi-year PC publishing agreement, meaning the Soulslike sequel — still targeting a 2026 launch — is now free to release on Steam. And based on everything the studio’s CEO has been saying publicly, that’s almost certainly exactly where it’s headed.
Here’s a full breakdown of what happened, when it happened, why it matters, and everything else going on around this game right now — because there’s quite a lot.
How the Exclusivity Deal Came Apart
The original agreement between CI Games and Epic was signed back in June 2024 and was a fairly comprehensive arrangement — it granted Epic exclusive distribution rights for Lords of the Fallen 2 on PC for the entire lifecycle of the product. At the time, CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski was publicly supportive of the deal, even going on record in December 2025 to say that “the majority of PC players who want a specific game will buy it on Epic if it’s exclusive there.”
That position clearly didn’t hold. On April 14, 2026, CI Games and Epic signed a formal Separation Agreement that released CI Games from all obligations under the original publishing term sheet. The news was disclosed publicly on May 18, 2026 — over a month after the agreement was signed. CI Games explained the delay in its investor filing, noting that “the immediate disclosure could have prejudiced the Company’s legitimate interests” during the negotiation period, and that they didn’t believe the delay crossed any legal lines.
The filing also made clear that the split is specifically about publishing and distribution rights, not everything Epic-related. CI Games stated that the termination “will not affect the ongoing cooperation between the parties in relation to the Unreal Engine, Epic online services, Epic account services, or the Company’s participation in the Fortnite ecosystem.” So the game is still being built in Unreal Engine 5, and all of those backend relationships remain intact. It’s a clean commercial separation, not a falling out.
So Is Lords of the Fallen 2 Actually Coming to Steam?
Nothing has been officially confirmed by CI Games regarding specific storefronts yet. But the signals are about as clear as they get without an official announcement. Tyminski has liked and retweeted posts from players asking for a Steam launch, and prior to the deal’s termination, he had reportedly signaled the shift toward Steam by approving a capital raise authorization tied to the sequel’s broader distribution strategy. The community reaction to the exclusivity termination has been overwhelmingly positive, and a day-one Steam presence at this point would surprise almost no one following the situation closely.
The original Lords of the Fallen (2023 reboot) sold 2.5 million copies worldwide as of March 2026, which finally pushed the game past its $80.45 million development and marketing budget and into profitability. The sequel launching on Steam from day one rather than being locked to Epic would dramatically expand that potential audience, and CI Games is clearly aware of that math.
What Is Lords of the Fallen 2, Anyway?
For anyone who hasn’t been following this one: Lords of the Fallen 2 is actually the third game in the franchise if you count the original 2014 title alongside the 2023 reboot, which was simply titled Lords of the Fallen. The sequel was revealed at Gamescom 2025 and appeared at The Game Awards 2025 with a gameplay trailer, and it’s been building steady anticipation since.
The game is a dark fantasy Soulslike — third-person action RPG combat with deliberate, punishing mechanics, rich lore, and a heavy emphasis on exploration and boss encounters. The sequel promises improvements across the board over the 2023 reboot, including a brand new dismemberment system, new execution animations, a larger variety of enemy types, and boss battles described as the most intricate in the series. Co-op and optional PvP are both confirmed to return.
On the distribution side, Plaion (Deep Silver) is handling global marketing and physical product shipments, and the game remains on track for a 2026 release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Late summer 2026 has been floated as a likely window based on current development progress, though no official release date has been confirmed.
The Wider Epic Games Picture
This termination is also worth reading in the context of what’s been happening at Epic more broadly. The company has been through a rough stretch recently — hundreds of layoffs, a significant price increase to Fortnite’s in-game currency that generated substantial backlash, and now the dissolution of what was once a cornerstone strategy for the Epic Games Store. Timed and permanent exclusivity deals were how Epic tried to build a competing storefront against Steam, often paying developers significant money to keep games off Valve’s platform.
That approach generated results in terms of user numbers, but it never won over the PC gaming community the way Epic hoped it would. And deals like this one apparently falling apart suggests that, at least for some developers, the math on Epic exclusivity is no longer favorable enough to be worth the community friction it creates.
The Controversy Surrounding the Game
Separate from the Epic situation, Lords of the Fallen 2 has been at the center of some heated conversations in gaming circles, driven largely by statements from CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski.
Back in December 2025, Tyminski posted publicly about the game’s creative direction, explaining why the original Lords of the Fallen had launched with “Body Type A/B” character options rather than gendered terminology. His explanation: “Hexworks started early 2020 as an autonomous studio owned by CI Games. Early on, political correctness and filtering meant not every decision reached me on time. I got a lot more involved from late 2024 and now act as Head of Studio alongside my CEO role. Things are very different now and the studio got fully integrated. We reverted a lot of wrong decisions and will continue improving.”
He confirmed that the sequel would feature “attractive female characters” with “revealing outfits and armor,” framing it as a response to “real player feedback” and a deliberate rejection of what he called political correctness in game design. CI Games’ global marketing director Ryan Hill had previously reinforced this stance, stating that the studio would not be “integrating any social or political agendas” into its games going forward, citing commercial risks he attributed to other studios that had done so.
The controversy escalated further in May 2026 when CI Games officially revealed five concept art pieces for female armor sets in the sequel — significantly more revealing designs than what appeared in the 2023 reboot. The reveal was partnered with a content creator focused specifically on female character design in gaming, and the studio’s messaging framed it as delivering on what the community asked for. Fan response has been genuinely split — some applauding the aesthetic direction, others criticizing the designs as more fan service than armor. Interestingly, developers from CI Games posting in the Lords of the Fallen subreddit also shared in-progress footage of more practical female armor designs from the game, noting that the sequel will feature over 100 total armor sets with extensive customization options.
Whether you land on one side of that conversation or the other, it’s clear CI Games has made a deliberate and calculated creative bet on a specific audience, and the full game will ultimately prove or disprove whether that bet pays off commercially.
What to Expect Next
Lords of the Fallen 2 is expected to have a presence at the summer showcase circuit — Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase are both on the calendar for June, and given the game’s 2026 target, a release date announcement or extended gameplay reveal seems likely somewhere in that window.
For now, the Steam situation is the most immediately relevant development for PC players. A game that was locked behind one storefront suddenly becoming available everywhere is a meaningful shift — and if the original’s 2.5 million sales were achieved partly through heavy discounting and a slow build, a day-one Steam launch for the sequel could set it up for a much stronger opening. That’s the bet CI Games appears to be making, and walking away from an Epic publishing deal to make it is a significant move no matter how you read the details.
If you’re keeping an eye on everything happening in gaming this month, we’ve also got the latest on every game coming and leaving Xbox Game Pass in May and June 2026 — including Forza Horizon 6 and a handful of departures that are worth your attention before the end of the month. And if you want context on how the indie publishing space is navigating the AI conversation right now, our piece on Far Far West’s 1 million sales and Fireshine’s generative AI stance is a good read. The conversation around what publishers are and aren’t willing to support in 2026 is getting louder across the board.
For sci-fi RPG fans also watching the Soulslike space, it’s worth noting that Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn are shaping up as two of the most anticipated RPGs of 2027 — a very different kind of challenging game, but one that could share some audience overlap with Lords of the Fallen fans who enjoy deep world-building and difficult combat.
