Okay, but any significant plans to make the launcher or store itself worth using?
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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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.
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(14 replies)
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.
I get into one of the Epic giveaway games sometimes but the launcher always feels like an obstacle rather than an asset. It's not software I enjoy using.
Use Heroic
And try launching games directly because it might be drm free
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.
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.
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.
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.
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And yet they couldn't find the pocket change to keep the Unreal Tournament master servers up and games listed.
Epic gave away nearly 600 million ~~games~~ licenses in 2024
True 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....
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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
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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.
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I only grab it if theres no demo on steam. If i like it i then buy on steam.
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.
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