On December 6, 2018, the Epic Games Store went live to compete with Valve’s popular platform Steam. To attract new users, the operators have been giving away a weekly changing selection of games for years.
How many games have been snagged so far? Over 500. This is shown by the screenshot from Orli155 on Reddit. In his Epic Games Store library, there are now 505 games. In subsequent comments, he explains:
- Orli155 has never purchased a game through the Epic Games Store. He has missed a few titles over the years, but he has secured most of the giveaways.
- Orli155 has not secured any games from Amazon Prime Gaming for the Epic Games Store. The titles mainly came through Epic’s weekly giveaways.
- Only exception: The Free2Play title Fortnite is in his library because he wanted to try Lego Fortnite.
Orli155 states that he has adjusted the screenshot to show many of the highlights that he managed to secure for free over the years. These include the Batman: Arkham series, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Borderlands 3, Death Stranding, Control, GTA V, Subnautica, DREDGE, SIFU, and Darkest Dungeon.
Games that could be secured for free through the Epic Games Store – Borderlands 3:
“I set an alarm”
How does the community react? With over 12,000 upvotes and more than 1,100 comments. Various players can hardly believe that there have already been so many games offered for free through the Epic Games Store. Others celebrate certain titles that they managed to snag.
- bb_operation69 remembers on Reddit: “Once it was like: ‘Isn’t it great, Ghostrunner 2 is free right now. I definitely want to play that!’ Only to find out that I already own the game.”
- LordMohid celebrates on Reddit especially one game: “It was insane when they gave away GTA V for free.”
- Viderberg reveals on Reddit how he misses no giveaway: “I set an alarm for every Thursday at 7 PM. Will I play the games? Probably not. But they are free!”
- Syngin9 can’t believe it on Reddit: “Wow, I thought I owned many of the free games. But I’m only at 177.”
More than 5 years ago, someone from the website pcgamesn.com calculated how much money could have been saved to date through the (then counted 108) free games from the Epic Games Store. The result: $2,140.94. The investments of the store operator are said to amount to billions per year to distribute games that are actually paid for, for free on a weekly basis.
Why does Epic Games do this? Instead of spending money on traditional advertising channels, the people at Epic team up with interested developers to offer a game from their respective portfolios for free in the store for a short time. The benefits for those involved:
- Epic Games attracts new and existing users to their platform who want to secure the regular giveaways. This way, they get used to the store as well as Epic’s launcher and may be more willing to buy or play games there later.
- Developers receive money from Epic Games and attention for their own games. According to Epic, free giveaways positively impact the sales figures of the respective developers.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney explained some time ago that these investments are cheaper than traditional advertising campaigns. The fact that the system works is evident from the fact that Epic Games has extended the free giveaway promotion year after year. Even now, you can secure two free games, Project Winter and Samorost 2, on store.epicgames.com.
What Sweeney reportedly said hasn’t worked out so well are some of the investments in games that have been released exclusively on the Epic Games Store (and not on Steam). For this, they have also received some criticism from the community, as many players were not keen on having to use another launcher or build a second library alongside Steam.
Last year, our tech expert Benedikt rated the various gaming platforms in a ranking. His assessments are likely still valid today – take a look: Steam, Epic, and Co in the ranking: Which gaming platform is the best in 2024?
