Games

Sure, try the buggy Epic version then buy the usable Steam version.

Also, imagine making a launcher that is so trash people will buy games on other platforms just to not deal with it.

This is the same effect which makes piracy beneficiary for developers. The EU financed a big study on it, expected to confirm claims that i causes high losses for creators. After they got unwanted results they shelved it silently. The Pirate Party then brought it to light.

Free advertising is always good and many people who have a no hassle option to own the game and to reward the creator will do so.

I've said this in the past but I think it's worth restating. I'm amazed that EGS is willing to even front the cost of these free games. Like I would expect some form of arbitrary restriction like requiring periodic actual money purchase to be eligible. They have posted income reports that state the free program just isn't working. Sure it's increasing numbers, but that isn't very helpful when your revenue is still decreasing ontop of the cost of the program. I mean it does help that its a flat cost and not a cost per install for them, but still.

for perspective: my last purchase was void train in super early stages of the game (2021 I think?) and prior to that was satisfactory somewhere around 2018 or 19. Meanwhile I have collected a lot of decent games from the program. And I'm one of the better cases. I have /tons/ of friends who have zero intention of ever actually buying anything on the shop, they only use it as a log in, claim the weekly freebie, log out or play the freebie game. Heck, there are programs that are dedicated exclusivley to log in as you, and claim the weekly freebies so you never even have to log onto the storefront. It isn't a sustainable model.

I feel like they would be better off forcing an annual payment history check on the platform, something stupid small like "if total paid is > 5$" or something cheap, or even like how steam does it where once you purchase something once everything unlocks. From a financial/business mindset, I don't get their intent on the current program. It only encourages people to grab games and never actually spend money on the sinkhole.

Eeeeehhh, I don't even have the Epic Launcher installed. I keep claiming the freebies out of the habit, but I can't remember what games I have there. Last time I checked you can't even see your library via the website.

Fun thing: Kind of the same thing happening to me with Xbox Game Pass. Try out games, buy it on Steam later on sale

“I used to think EGS was a Marketing Black Hole,” the New Blood CEO said, “but turns out having your game be free on Epic is great advertising for Steam sales!” Alongside the boost in Steam sales, Blood West also saw a jump in console sales as well while it was free on Epic.

That's incredible.

Oshry is far from the only developer to point out issues with the Epic Games Store. Just recently, in an interview with FRVR, Painkiller and Witchfire creator Adrian Chmielarz explained that Epic doesn’t feel like “home” to players, and that causes many to simply clock out, saying “EGS is a shop, and Steam is a community.”

I have a lot of free games on Epic. But when I want to play with my gaming group, we're using Steam. It's just where everybody is.

It's a win for everyone except Epic. PURE BLISS.

Sometimes the DLC for the free game on epic costs the same as the full package on steam. So epic is an extended demo really

The current free game are the two Styx games. I grabbed them on Steam when I saw they went 90% off so I'd have an easier time running them on my legion go and my Android phone. I learned of the games because of them being the EGS free game and the game looked up my alley

https://store.steampowered.com/app/242640/Styx_Master_of_Shadows/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/355790/Styx_Shards_of_Darkness/

Makes sense. By the time a game shows up on a giveaway it has been out long enough that there's lot of discounts for it. So small budget price that might be less than the price of buying lunch is worth it for some to not deal with Epic.

And the giveaway is good promotion, since even people like me who don't have epic launcher installed will still be aware of it and claim it through a browser. Ends up being free marketing among those who subscribe to gamedeals type communities or visit sites like isthereanydeals. Gives games an opportunity to get a second wind.

It's true for me at least. If I like a freebie from Epic, I'm more likely to buy it on Steam also just so that I can use it easily with the Steam Deck without additional configuration.

I bought a game on steam once that I already had on epic for free. It was on sale for like $5 on steam(Hunter: Call of the Wild), and I was curious if all the shader pre-caching and optimizations steam does with the Steam Deck would have it run better with the steam version, compared to the epic games version.

Edit: my bad you guys. YES. It does run better. The pre caching steam games have is noticably gets rid of stutter. Mildly noticeable in a slower paced game like Hunter. Very noticeable in Borderlands 3 that's higher paced.