Free games are pure marketing. Don’t confuse it.
They can take them away at their whim.
Their sole purpose is to get you used to using Epic over other services.
I get into one of the Epic giveaway games sometimes but the launcher always feels like an obstacle rather than an asset. It’s not software I enjoy using.
Pressing “Launch” is the same whether you’re in Epic or Steam. I have like 40 games on epic and I’ve paid them exactly $0. In the same time I spent quite a bit on Steam. It’s hard to see what value Epic is getting out of me from this.
A lot of the free games also have DLC for sale. If you play the free game and enjoy it, odds are that it is cheaper to get the DLC on epic instead of buying the game and dlc on steam. No idea how often that works out for epic, but it’s one way they could make money back from free games.
Because it’s not just about you. Even if just 1% of people decide “Huh, I wonder what else is on there”, hell even .01%, it’s a win for them.
It’s not about big gains, it’s about attrition.
Here’s an argument for Epic: Their international pricing is WAY better than Steam’s. By what I gather, Epic is the go-to for many who live in low-income countries.
On the other side, their app still lags behind Steam by miles. For whatever unknown reason.
Same. I grab most of the free games every week, but for actual purchases I still use Steam. If I’m going to spend money on a game then it has to count achievements on my Steam profile.
The value is getting you not to use competitors.
Funnily enough it made me just find ways to deal with all of them comfortably. In the end I buy from GOG or Steam or Itch. And still have hundreds of games on Epic and some even on Ubisoft’s and EA’s launchers.
Epic gave away nearly 600 million
gameslicenses in 2024True of everyone other than GoG on that front, if we’re being honest.
Even GoG says straight up that they are only selling you a licence. The fact that they allow you to download installers for games, updates and dlc is heads and tails above everyone else, but if they close shop and you forget to download the installers, you’re in the same boat as if you’d got those games on steam or epic.
And physical discs.
That’s a bit more of a myth than a lot of people realise. There’s the decreasing access to physical media already but pair that with the fact that some discs have nothing more than a serial key on them to unlock access to a downloaded copy of your “purchase”
Today a physical disc is merely a resellable license key.
Which is great, don’t get me wrong. I hate it a bit, that we stopped using discs on PC.
Okay, but any significant plans to make the launcher or store itself worth using?
I think the vast majority of users only use launchers to launch games. For that purpose, it does that perfectly fine. I suspect that even if Epic invested billions into bringing their store up to feature parity with Steam, users still wouldn’t switch. They’d need to be leaps and bounds better, and that’s hard to comprehend in terms of features and cost. I think they’re making the smart move sticking to their wheelhouse.
Hard disagree on every point. Majority of their “user base” just get the free games but spend the money on steam or gog. That will never change unless the store itself becomes worth spending money on.
I don’t think anything about the launcher would have to change for them to get my money. Hell, one of the reasons I like GOG is because I don’t need to use their launcher.
Let’s remember they are already the second largest games store. Okay, let’s assume they try to compete with Steam on features. What do you think it would take to get users to switch?
Wondering the same… just last week i found out you cannot view your library in the web browser, only your transactions. Even after all this time.
It has to be 100% on purpose to make you get the launcher. I tried to check out my EA games, and a forum post said they used to have it on the web, but not anymore.
I only grab it if theres no demo on steam. If i like it i then buy on steam.
And they can take them away in a second
To be fair, the same is true of Steam, even with purchased games. We don’t own anything but a licence.
https://www.thegamer.com/steam-digital-game-ownership-licence-disclaimer/
Conclusion: GOG > Steam/Epic
Conclusion: GOG > Steam/Epic
How much do they pay you?
https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/212632089-GOG-User-Agreement?product=gog
2.1 We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a ‘license’) to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This license is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this license in some situations, which are explained later on.
They took rocket league off steam. Well actually it’s on there, but the servers will not connect via Linux
i did my part. got about 40 of them last year.
epic freebies from 2024 played: 0
epic freebies from 2024 installed: 0
the only freebie of theirs i have installed right now is one of the CIVs.
Civ 6 was the biggest one for me. I missed GTA V though
the asset store is where you want to get every freebie.
There’s a reason you can still only checkout with a single game at a time despite the asset store having a fully functional shopping cart from day 1.
Yeah, any game I deem worthy to play, is worthy of my money anyway, so I would rather buy them on Steam/GOG.
I have some free games on Epic, but havent even had the launcher installed for like 7 years.
Gotta think the vast majority go unplayed. Early on I was claiming them now and again, and the Subnautica giveaway was an absolute steal. Definitely something I had on my mental patient gamer list anyway.
Yeah, I’ve basically stopped caring about the free games at this point. I mean I have a very full library of games there but most I already own on steam of gog and I haven’t played any of them, even the ones during the recent holidays.
Right. At this point it feels a little like time wasted on collecting free games that never get played.
Steam is for paying for games that never get played. Most of us have hefty libraries.
I feel like they have some sweet deals with publishers that only when people download a game for the first time does the license get activated. Or you just have an IOU license. Just a speculation tho.
No need to speculate, the details were leaked a while back
Interesting link, thank you!
Ah, thanks! It seems like they just buy out the game, and they can give out unlimited licenses.
That title makes it seem like they have made 600 million separate games free and not that they have had 600 million users claiming games they have given away free.
I suspect the contract means that they only actually pay for those that are played
Pretty sure it’s a fixed amount to the publisher/devs for unlimited licenses during the free period, but varies by popularity of the game, according to documents from the lawsuit against Apple
