Kane99 Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Epic may be gaining some popularity for their free games, it still isn't nearly as close to being as good as Steam is. Epic has been giving games out for free like crazy as of late. Albeit, they aren't extremely expensive games, but they are fairly good ones. So that's going to bring in a lot of people, but will it keep people invested in the Epic Games store and using their launcher? Can Epic even afford to give away all the free games they give away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 EPIC does not have any issue. It is the game studios who offer the free stuff through their platform to acquire the users. epic just gives more incentives to such developers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withywarlock Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 (edited) @skyfire's nailed it, but to answer the other questions of it retains users, yes and no. Sure some people only go for the free games, but in order to play those games you've got for free you need to use their launcher. It might not be enough to turn a regular Steam user into a regular Epic Game Store user, but they're still an EGS user all the same. Their details are logged, and the temptation to pour money back into the store via Fortnite or paid games on their store (thus paying off Epic's incentives to the developers) is ever greater. It's about taking up the user's headspace, and those who look forward to a free game are giving them enough. If the Fortnite and Unreal licensing money starts to run out then the questions worth asking again and my answer would probably be different, but that's a hypothetical scenario long into Epic's future that I'm not willing to entertain until their demise is evident. I've not recovered from the epic burn that was being wrong about Fortnite having a successful Battle Royale mode while its Save the World mode was the only one at the time. Edited December 27, 2020 by Withywarlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syntax Posted December 27, 2020 Share Posted December 27, 2020 Almost all of the free games are doing it to boost their userbase, and they also have paid items in their store or a way to bring you into the game more (DLC, newer release, series for sale, etc.). So Epic is just the storefront that lets the publishers put a game on "FREE" but really make more money overall in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Also If I am not wrong fortnite seems to be their regular customer that acquires it's new users through the EPIC store platform and so all the microtransactions are through EPIC store in the backend. Like fortnite there is also smite that earns them revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killamch89 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 They don't have an issue doing it because in terms of popularity, they're still a long ways off competitors like GOG, Steam and other platforms. Not only that but their user interface is quite limited so in order to lure more people to their platform, they have to do some free promotions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 I think as long as they get something from developers to promote. they can do it for free and get them exposure too. epic has a lot of chinese and korean following. killamch89 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killamch89 Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 On 3/14/2021 at 12:50 PM, skyfire said: I think as long as they get something from developers to promote. they can do it for free and get them exposure too. epic has a lot of chinese and korean following. That's a really valid point there and in addition to that they have Tencent whose one of the wealthiest and most influential companies in the gaming industry so I'm sure they'll be okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 I hope so. But considering tencent and the opera both have the chinese and korean staking. I think they will be trying many different ways for the game developers to stay on their platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empire Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 They aren't giving the games away that easy at times. They are investing in new users. The expectation is that they give you a free game and, in return, you buy other things from them. It's a quid pro quo transaction. I wouldn't assign any altruistic motive behind it. At the end of the day, just like Steam, they just want your money. But, Epic has never claimed they are doing it for any other reason. They have said it is just advertising and it is more effective than just running ads. Do gamers benefit from it? Absolutely. But, it is a self-serving action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Yes they want you to subscribe or share to some social media. I have seen some of such similar offers like doing survey, filling up forms and also sharing the content and then they give you access to the giveaway pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Berisford Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 To be fair, the only reason I have an Epic Game account is because they offered a game for free. I don't even play it anymore but the EG launcher still sits pretty on my PC. I've no personal desire to buy any games anytime soon but if EPIC pops out with a decent free game that takes my fancy, I'll be right back on getting whatever they want filled in, shared etc. because it beats paying actual money. Benefits them, benefits me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killamch89 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 On 3/18/2021 at 7:17 AM, Empire said: They aren't giving the games away that easy at times. They are investing in new users. The expectation is that they give you a free game and, in return, you buy other things from them. It's a quid pro quo transaction. I wouldn't assign any altruistic motive behind it. At the end of the day, just like Steam, they just want your money. But, Epic has never claimed they are doing it for any other reason. They have said it is just advertising and it is more effective than just running ads. Do gamers benefit from it? Absolutely. But, it is a self-serving action. We know it's a way to get free promo because they have to find a way to make their platform appealing because they can't compete with Steam currently. On 3/19/2021 at 2:56 PM, skyfire said: Yes they want you to subscribe or share to some social media. I have seen some of such similar offers like doing survey, filling up forms and also sharing the content and then they give you access to the giveaway pages. They do this to collect your personal info so that they can promote offers to you in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted October 30, 2021 Share Posted October 30, 2021 Not just offers. I suppose they also cross sell the info with other users. Which is kind of a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egghead Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 I think Epic is already making a lot of money from a lot of paid games and in-game purchase don their free games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
