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.
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.
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.
The goal is very simple, it’s to get you to use Epic. The reason people buy their games on Steam is because people effectively have Steam start on boot. It’s the default because “all” your games are there. You use gog or EA app or Ubisoft connect only if there’s something that’s not on Steam and you boot them up specifically to that one game.
So if you’re Epic and you want to compete with Steam how do you do that? You grow the user’s library to make sure they start up Epic instead of Steam and you get them in the habit of logging in. Both are accomplished by giving our free games.
It’s probably not effective on the old timers who have 100+ games on Steam, but people like me are not the target audience. It’s aimed at younger people who don’t have a huge steam library and can’t really afford to buy a lot of games.
Tldr: Epic is giving away free games to become the default store for the next generation of gamers.
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.
I never realized it before but you’re right, in my country the games are 50% cheaper on the Epic Store than they are in Steam!
Exact same regional pricing in my country, no idea what you guys are talking about
I’m in a small Caribbean island, the steam price has always been the same price as the US price, which is very expensive compared to the average salary on the island.
So basically no regional pricing for us in the Caribbean.
On the other hand the epic store does have regional pricing for us more in line with the average salary which make the games 50% cheaper than steam.
Here is the steam price for Rimworld
Here is the Epic Game price for Rimworld
I checked other games and it’s similar.
Edit: I wish I was wrong because I’m only playing in Linux so I would really prefer buying games from Steam but now I’m seriously considering buying the games from the Epic Store, it sucks.
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.
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.
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.
Don’t forget you can always backup and store all your games, the EULA companies make you sign don’t substitute the laws: if they are selling you stuff, if the use the word “buy”… they either owe you a product or they are lying.
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.
And yet they couldn’t find the pocket change to keep the Unreal Tournament master servers up and games listed.
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.
Worth noting that Steam does not enforce the use of its DRM. Like Epic, its up to developers to add it.
As for installing games after the services ends, I’d be curious to know if any have specified what happens to game licences at that point. Obviously, if the licence is revoked, continuing to play it is piracy, but if these services close, are the licences revoked? I couldn’t find anything matching in the Steam or GOG terms of service.
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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.
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.
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…
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.
Civ 6 was the biggest one for me. I missed GTA V though
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 only grab it if theres no demo on steam. If i like it i then buy on steam.
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
Ah, thanks! It seems like they just buy out the game, and they can give out unlimited licenses.
Interesting link, thank you!
