With exclusive games from Epic, and some exclusives from third parties as well, coupled with an aggressive strategy to fill your libraries with (if Subnautica and Super Meat Boy are any indication) high-quality titles for free, Epic appears well-positioned, not to mention well capitalized, to make Epic Games Store a contender, even if you’d just as soon ignore it.Subnautica is as much a horror game as it is a survival, crafty, buildy game.
: Blizzard offers some of its classic games for free right here while this isn’t really dependent on the client, we’re just always looking for an excuse to share links to Blackthorne.No classic Doom promotions or free Elder Scrolls titles. But outside of free-to-play games like Quake Champions or Fallout Shelter, there isn’t anything free here. Launcher: Bethesda Softworks’ client is relatively new, and until the release of Fallout 76 last month, Bethesda’s own titles were available on other storefronts like Steam.Uplay: Ubisoft’s storefront occasionally offers freebies to celebrate anniversaries, or attract new signups, but thanks to knitting its service into Steam so well, libraries grow when you buy Ubisoft games from Steam or directly from Uplay.Instead, EA wants to move consumers to its subscription plans, where a massive library is just $15 per month away. Origin: When EA launched Origin, it came with an “On the House” program to fill up your library with free titles (though EA ended that initiative over the summer).Discord: A $10-per-month Discord Nitro account also nets you access to a growing selection of free games (some 72 by our count today).Twitch: An Amazon Prime account still gets you free games on Twitch, even though Twitch just unceremoniously shuttered its game store.On occasion, GOG will also let you sync your account with Steam and unlock select games on GOG, for free, via a feature called GOG Connect. Periodically, GOG will offer free games during sales or special events, like Shadow Warrior 2 in October, or Sunless Sea over the summer. And to this day, classic games remain one of its core strengths.
Epic is hoping to use its massive Fortnite-fueled install base and some developer-friendly terms to propel its platform into the rarefied space currently dominated, though not exclusively, by Valve’s Steam platform.
Offering free games to help grow a digital game library, in addition to mitigating the difficulty of asking players to split their collection across multiple PC gaming ecosystems, has become something of a table-stakes strategy these days. While users may be very likely to have a copy of the free-to-play Fortnite in their new library on day one, Epic is looking to accelerate the growth of players’ collections by offering a free game every two weeks, beginning with Subnautica on Dec. The Epic Games launcher - the client used to distribute battle royale megahit Fortnite - relaunched last night as the Epic Games Store, a new entrant in the PC gaming digital distribution landscape, with an enticing offer.