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.
I got Surviving Mars for free on Epic and really liked it, but I instead spent more money to buy the full game & all the DLC from Steam just on general principle lol.
I got civ6 for free from epic, played it for a while and decided I wanted the dlc, it was cheaper to buy the full game on steam plus all the dlc than to buy just 1 dlc from epic.
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.
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.
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.
Luckily that boat can also be steered to the high seas.
I mean, sure, but I’d argue that is a totally separate boat. The boat we’re talking about is the “paying money to not own something, even if you get a download that can potentially be stored indefinitely” boat, not the “maybe pay for an internet connection unless your neighbour didn’t password protect their WiFi, and don’t pay for anything that all comes as downloads that can be potentially stored indefinitely” boat…
And physical discs.
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.
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”
Can I sell/trade it to somebody else so they can play it?
Yes: I own it.
No: I don’t own it.
Already we’re seeing utter nonsense of games being removed in the generation they were launched on, meaning games like Forza Horizon titles can’t even be purchased unless you have a disc.
I’m happy to agree with you there but I’d add the extra stipulation to you simple yes/no
If I get home from purchasing the physical edition of the game and my internet has happened to go off, can I still play it?
Yes: I own it.
No: I’ve been sold an almost useless key.
There’s a handful of games I’ve seen like that. The Spyro Remastered Trilogy for example contained just the first game. The rest had to be downloaded.
And while my Cyberpunk disc contains a full hand as far as I can tell, the expansion is just a code and has to be downloaded.
For Cyberpunk, I can say the disc for the PC version was the soundtrack. The game still had to be redeemed on GoG and downloaded in its entirety. A silverlining that I at least got something in the box but certainly a weird side-step.
I was also aware of what was really on the disc prior to release otherwise I’d’ve called it a con. I can’t remember how I knew about that though.
Okay, but any significant plans to make the launcher or store itself worth using?
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 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.
I think the vast majority of users only use launchers to launch games. For that purpose, it does that perfectly fine.
Does it? Lets envision the minimum viable product for a game store. You have a very basic wrb interface and you download games or installers from it. Something like itch.io, or similar to GOG. Is using Epic’s launcher better than just downloading the installers from a browser? I’d argue not, given the hastle of creating a new account, installing the launcher with all its spyware and using it, rather than the bare minimum of just downloading an installer, running it, and then running the game directly.
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.
Look at how other platforms have eaten into Steam’s control most successfully without resorting to anything too shady. Humble Bundle and Fanatical offer unique bundles with better deals. Itch.io works more closely with devs, esspecially smaller devs. GOG cut out a niche by specifically seeking out old games to licence or fix themselves, as well as by ensuring everything is DRM free.
None of these had even a fraction of the funding Epic did. Imagine if Epic spent their early years trying to replicate these practices rather than paying to remove stuff off other platforms. Instead of spending millions on exclusivity deals, they offered customers things like weekly discount bundles, a designated DRM free section on their store, or maybe a community games section with less moderation, meant for quick-and-easy publishing for new devs.
If that isn’t enough, and they aren’t busy spending ten or hundreds of millions on pissing off their potential customers, then they could also look at loyalty programs, better sales, or even just straight-up marketing for their platform and the games on it. Epic isn’t a small company and their store has been a major investment.
All of that is just easy, obvious stuff off the top of my head, none of which even affects the launcher. Implement even half of it, (without burning the bridge with your customers first) and I’m confident you’ll have a very strong competitor to Steam.
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?
When the majority of “user base” is there for free games then being second largest store doesn’t mean anything. They already said they are operating on a loss so that further invalidates it.
That said, the last time I used their launcher was a couple years ago when I was still using windows so these points are based solely on my experience back then. They didn’t even have chat option or removed at some point so there was no way to directly message or call a friend from the launcher which means I couldn’t even ask if anyone wanna play. Library GUI was shit, missing so many filter and highlight features of steam. No user review and no I don’t consider the so called game journalist reviews as actual reviews. The store suggestions was also very lacking compared to what steam offers. No workshop support like steam, no community pages, guides etc. Regional pricing was same as steam but they offer more cut to the devs which is nice but I as an user get insanely low value buying on epic than steam. The entire launcher experience was nothing but annoying at every point when Steam is at least usable and had a lot of features that makes it worth using despite all their issues. All this time, they focused on getting exclusives and developers but didn’t give 2 fucks about user experience so let’s see them fix that. Although I vehemently hate epic for a lot of things so I don’t see myself ever buying from them but I don’t see how an average user would care about any of that.
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.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but platforms like GOG and Humble Bundle often provide the actual DRM free software which can be installedd independently of their platform and license.
Steam and Epic are not like that. Steam typically requires us to use its launcher to play games, as they are tied to our Steam accounts. Epic sometimes actually allows one to directly access the game files. Of course, the level of DRM can vary depending on the specific game and developer.
They took rocket league off steam. Well actually it’s on there, but the servers will not connect via Linux
I only grab it if theres no demo on steam. If i like it i then buy on steam.
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.
EGS has had an “add to cart” button for a while now…
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.
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
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.
