Do you believe Epic Games will continue to give away free games in 2020 on the Epic Store? (Poll)

[Starlatine]

probably
i know like 10 people who use the EGS and eight is just because of the free stuff. you take it out they uninstall the EGS launcher faster than sweeney can say "exclusive deal"

 

[hersheyfan]

At the end of the day, Epic's probably going to figure out that most PC gamers are never really going to "default" to EGS. Their data is going to show that the new users their various wacky promos are bringing in aren't really spending all that much in return, and aren't "loyal"...

I dropped an easy 200 in the Steam Winter Sale; conversely, I spent like ten bucks on the EGS sale to get Fallen Order, AND they gave me another ten bucks which I'm going to use to buy Tetris Effect when the EGS winter sale ends. They literally paid more than I did for the games I bought/am planning to buy, on top of all the free games I already mooched off them, without any guarantee that I'd ever shop on their store under normal circumstances. That's completely unsustainable.

 

[TeHi & BuSp]

They started to recycle old games that were given away months ago, they will continue recycle games in 2020 as well.

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What ? they only re-give Celeste in this day...other free games are absolute no recycle.
Next.

 

[Majukun]

dunno.
their model isn't sustainable indefinitely,but at the same time i can't complain about free stuff

 

[Chimpzy]

Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Might depend on how long the Fortnite money keeps coming in.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

What ? they only re-give Celeste in this day...other free games are absolute no recycle.
Next.

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The next game, Hyper Light Drifter, is recycled as well

Next.

 

[TeHi & BuSp]

The next game, Hyper Light Drifter, is recycled as well

Next.

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2 game on 65.
Next

 

[Sheepinator]

They started to recycle old games that were given away months ago, they will continue recycle games in 2020 as well.

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I'm sure they have new members who missed the previous free events.

This recycling isn't bad anyway when you remember they increased the schedule. It was 1 free game each week. They upped it to 1 free game per day for 12 days. So far, if today is HLD, that's two repeats during this faster schedule, still leaving up to 10 free games in the space of 2 weeks, compared to the usual 2 free games in 2 weeks. We've already had 2 good ones with TABS and Into The Breach, the rest is gravy.

I think they'll still have a few free games in 2020, but not as often as 2019.

 

[funky]

I think they will try a subscription service but also maybe still so 1 free game a month.

 

[Deleted member 176]

2 game on 65.
Next

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the next game may be recycled too, yea

 

[1-D_FE]

2 game on 65.
Next

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Can I play?

2 of the last 4 freebies have been repeats.

Next.

Spoiler

I don't really care.

 

[Ionic]

I think they will try a subscription service but also maybe still so 1 free game a month.

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I feel like I remember somebody saying they had a source for this being what they want to try, but I never saw anything official out of it. That would certainly be an interesting way to get people onto the store.

Edit: And lock a monthly Fortnite skin to that subscription and you probably got a success. Even though 95 percent of the subscribers won't actually play the games.

 

[Chudah]

I feel like I remember somebody saying they had a source for this being what they want to try, but I never saw anything official out of it. That would certainly be an interesting way to get people onto the store.

Edit: And lock a monthly Fortnite skin to that subscription and you probably got a success. Even though 95 percent of the subscribers won't actually play the games.

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I dunno, if people are expecting free games but get a subscription service instead, that really doesn't scratch the free game itch most people are there for.

 

[Ionic]

I dunno, if people are expecting free games but get a subscription service instead, that really doesn't scratch the free game itch most people are there for.

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People love subscription services. All you gotta do is put a few of the EGS heavy hitters and some Fortnite stuff behind a monthly 5 dollar paywall and you'll suddenly have people who never bothered paying on EGS getting out their wallets.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

Depends on how many free games translate into bought games. If it's a net positive they might continue. Or they might not. I don't know.

 

[deadman322]

they should, after spending the last year conditioning consumers to expect them.

 

[Chudah]

People love subscription services. All you gotta do is put a few of the EGS heavy hitters and some Fortnite stuff behind a monthly 5 dollar paywall and you'll suddenly have people who never bothered paying on EGS getting out their wallets.

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Really not sure if their heavy hitters are big enough to compete with Xbox Game Pass or even EA Access. They'd have to court a lot more/bigger devs for it to be worth it, imo.

 

[Delusibeta]

The unspoken assumption is that EGS is technically capable of supporting a subscription. I would be dubious the Epic client as it currently stands would be capable of revoking licenses when the subscription expires, given that I've seen reports of the client forgetting what games people bought, and running pirated copies of games.

To be honest, the rumours seem to spring from an assumption that the store hasn't worked, and that doing an Origin Access-esque pivot to subscriptions would be the next move. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that's on Epic's agenda, especially after seeing how well Jedi Fallen Order has done on Steam despite being on Origin Access Premier (and Halo MCC still being at the sharp end of the Steam Top Sellers despite Games Pass)

 

[Aswitch]

Whatever it takes to get you to download their launcher and use it over steam, they will do.

 

[Eggiem]

Whatever it takes to get you to download their launcher and use it over steam, they will do.

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Cant wait for my paycheck from Epic!

 

[Thibault]

I think it's better for them to sponsor the discount on sales, free games don't change mentality of gamers.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

expect a drop in quality and/or much older games that have exhausted their sale potential on other storefronts (i.e., Little Inferno, a great game, but 8 years old and in most people's libraries elsewhere).

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Well, it's not like even in the past they've all been "prime choice".
Stuff like World of Goo and Super Meat Boy were old enough that they appeared in the very first Humble Bundle, and they were given away or available for pennies since then.
But yeah, I get what you mean and I agree.

 

[the_kaotek1]

It makes no odds to me, nearly all of the good games I've got already through humble or ps+. I've got to say the regional pricing makes it way more tempting for me, new AAA games are 44 bucks whereas they're 60 on Steam...

 

[Weltall Zero]

Of course they will, but neither that nor timed exclusives are good ways to attract the audience to your storefront.

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By which you mean they are not good ways to attract Rosenkrantz to their storefront.

Personally, I hope Epic continues to do so, though I don't think they will. I'm going to continue my policy of freeloading off all the giveaways, and buying the occasional game when Tim Sweeney pays me 10 bucks to do so.

No free ten bucks, no deal! 😀

C'mon Sweeney - buy us another round! Rich dudes with more money than sense are awesome.

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Sorry but you are deluding yourself if you think they aren't already factoring in that most people will be doing precisely that. They're simply taking from the free-to-play handbook, and "most people won't actually buy anything" is the very first line in that book.

 

[dex3108]

Predatory pricing, lol.

I'm pretty sure it's only considered that when it threatens to wipe out a competitor. What they're doing is a just a regular sales promotion.

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They are losing between 2 and 9$ with each sale above 15$ during this sale. How many competitors can do that?

 

[Chudah]

Well, it's not like even in the past they've all been "prime choice".
Stuff like World of Goo and Super Meat Boy were old enough that they appeared in the very first Humble Bundle, and they were given away or available for pennies since then.
But yeah, I get what you mean and I agree.

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Wasn't World of Goo the remastered version that you could only get on EGS? Super Meat Boy, however...

 

[Lashley]

They'll have stopped it by April

 

[Arulan]

They'll get nothing from me. I won't support their bullshit.

Hopefully the results of throwing money away for a year have been as poor as it appears.

 

[Gpur]

The thing is that if you have a library into the store maybe you'll start to use it in a regular basis, because become an account you want to take care of it. So I believe that they are trying to let user to create a library of game, meanwhile they improve the client, then when you as a user will have achievements, stats and so on probably you'll start to buy. So, I'm not sure but I believe that we'll get free games at least for next year.

 

[Melhadf]

Whatever it takes to get you to download their launcher and use it over steam, they will do.

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I've not broken over Mechwarrior 5, so there's nothing they can do other than pay me money to use their store.

 

[OSPC]

They are losing between 2 and 9$ with each sale above 15$ during this sale. How many competitors can do that?

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If anyone is threatened of being wiped out by these sales promotions, it's Epic themselves.

 

[Deleted member 49611]

i think they'll cut back. can't keep it up forever.

 

[Cels]

i think the practice will continue but there will be more repeats.

 

[Forsaken82]

Of course they will, just not once a week. They will likely go back to once every two weeks if not once a month.

 

[MazeHaze]

depends on whether it got users to spend money on the store (I'm not sure why it would) and whether fortnite keeps bringing in tons of money to subsidize the money being lost on free games and sales (during sale periods they actively lose money, usually not a great sign for a store that wants to stay in business but hey what do I know)

so only epic can say!

id rather know if they're going to keep buying more exclusivity agreements for all the glorious "competition" in this "multi store world" tim has given to us. see what further kickstarter projects he can sink in the future out of fear

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They actually did get me to spend money. Claimed a free game, they gave me a $10 coupon, bought Outer Wilds for $15, they gave me another coupon, bought AC Odyssey for $13. Then they gave me another $10 coupon that I'm sitting on but will spend eventually because it's good thru May 2020.

 

[Pimienta]

I think until mid-early 2020. I think they already got some costumers. Unlike Steam, I do get regional pricing here.

 

[Chudah]

They actually did get me to spend money. Claimed a free game, they gave me a $10 coupon, bought Outer Wilds for $15, they gave me another coupon, bought AC Odyssey for $13. Then they gave me another $10 coupon that I'm sitting on but will spend eventually because it's good thru May 2020.

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The real question is, would you buy a game from their store at full price?

 

[MazeHaze]

The real question is, would you buy a game from their store at full price?

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Thats a good question. Tbh i probably would have bought outer wilds at full price, because its not available anywhere else and it runs sooooo bad on my xbox.

 

[Mesoian]

Considering that beyond their exclusives, it's the only reason most have to interact with their storefront, yes.

It's not like they made any of those improvements to the EGS like they said they would.

 

[Nome]

It's most likely the opposite.

The longer it continues, the longer it is required for them to have it in place in order to reach their internal figures.

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That's not incompatible with what I said. The program can be doing well for them and they can still be not hitting their platform KPIs.

 

[ThreepwoodMighty]

Who is running the show over at Epic? I can't imagine Epic is earning money by giving away free games and buying exclusives left and right. At some point this has to stop, right?

 

[mutantmagnet]

Their monthly giveaways will end before 2020 finishes but expect them to happen for at least a few months. They won't do monthly's in 2021.

This 12 days of free games promotion I think they will continue to do in 2020 and 2021. It's a solid way of getting people to comeback and view existing sales.

 

[SteveWinwood]

They actually did get me to spend money. Claimed a free game, they gave me a $10 coupon, bought Outer Wilds for $15, they gave me another coupon, bought AC Odyssey for $13. Then they gave me another $10 coupon that I'm sitting on but will spend eventually because it's good thru May 2020.

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so youve actively cost epic something like ten dollars

 

[Deleted member 3190]

They'll go back to bi-weekly for a bit and probably reduce it further at a later date. I figure they will have some sort of freebie going forward (at least for the near future).

 

[Morten88]

Atleast its going to be interesting to see what happens, if they go for subscription service, then we know they have lost the battle vs steam and tries to compete with microsoft on the game pass for pc. They keep changing their strategies, so it just makes me think its not working out for them.

 

[LordRuyn]

At the end of the day, Epic's probably going to figure out that most PC gamers are never really going to "default" to EGS. Their data is going to show that the new users their various wacky promos are bringing in aren't really spending all that much in return, and aren't "loyal"...

I dropped an easy 200 in the Steam Winter Sale; conversely, I spent like ten bucks on the EGS sale to get Fallen Order, AND they gave me another ten bucks which I'm going to use to buy Tetris Effect when the EGS winter sale ends. They literally paid more than I did for the games I bought/am planning to buy, on top of all the free games I already mooched off them, without any guarantee that I'd ever shop on their store under normal circumstances. That's completely unsustainable.

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Wait, how did you get Falle Order for 10 bucks?! It's 49 with the sale and 39 with the coupon

But coming back to the topic, I hope so. I played the free jackbox party pack 1 they gave me on stream to try it and I bought another one during the sale due to the coupon. Also Hades, After Party and Anno all games that I had a ton of fun with. I hate the storefront and lack of features for the launcher but they managed to make me buy from them.

 

[hersheyfan]

Wait, how did you get Falle Order for 10 bucks?! It's 49 with the sale and 39 with the coupon

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Regional pricing, I'm not based in the US. That's why theres an argument for the 10 dollar Epic deal devaluing games significantly - it doesnt scale proportionally between regions, but rather is a straight ten buck discount wherever you are.

It really wasn't very well thought out, tbh. 😅 I'm sure EA isn't crazy about their big Star Wars single player game going for that low so soon after launch.

Who is running the show over at Epic? I can't imagine Epic is earning money by giving away free games and buying exclusives left and right. At some point this has to stop, right?

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They're not making money, and are absolutely in the red thus far. They only make 12 percent on each sale, and as shown above and in previous examples ITT, the deals are unsustainable (you can have Epic pay more than 50% of a game's cost even in the US - just buy 14.99 games only to maximize the value of the repeating "bribe") - this isn't even taking into account the free games promotion, which I'm sure costs them a ton of cash. Epic is betting that if they can get enough people through the door they can grow fast enough to make up for it. They seem to have forgotten that in a "multi-store world", customers can be a fickle lot.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

They repeated the same free games of before now twice: Celeste few days ago and today yper Light Drifter. Talking about free christmas gifts.
I hope they won't repeat same games for the days left.

 

[Deleted member 679]

I doubt it, but I wish they would, they gave some incredible games this year, and to my surprise I even played one of them, Inside. Great game.

 

[Sheepinator]

They repeated the same free games of before now twice: Celeste few days ago and today yper Light Drifter. Talking about free christmas gifts.
I hope they won't repeat same games for the days left.

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In the last week we've had Into The Breach, Superhot, TABS and others for free, which is extremely good. Tomorrow looks to be Shadow Tactics. Don't forget that not everybody who's a member today was a member back then or remembered to claim every free game in the past.