Like what the title says. There’s always a catch unless it’s FOSS. So, what is the catch with them giving games for free that you can keep forever? What will the developers of the games get as a thank you?
It’s likely a scheme to entice people onto their platform because they’re not as trusted as valve or gog. If they become a monopoly then we’ll get to see all the various catches to that.
this tbh
though it doesn’t really work, i have 183 epic games, none of which have i bought lol
The catch is you have to install the Epic app or whatever it is called.
Also they hate Linux and shitcanned the already-existing native Linux port of Rocket League when they bought it. It’s fair to say you won’t dump resources into making new Linux ports but shitcanning a quality one that already existed? They can eat shit.
I never played Rocket League again after that.
The catch is now you have games in their ecosystem and are more likely to spend more time and money there.
They want you to use their service. You’re more likely to use the service if you already have a library of games on it.
What will the developers of the games get as a thank you?
They wouldn’t be making them free without making a deal with the developer first. There was a leak that showed the actual amount a while back.
They wouldn’t be making them free without making a deal with the developer first. There was a leak that showed the actual amount a while back.
That is what I was after! Not the leak, but the catch. Do you have the link to the source for the leak?
it’s not “forever”. it’s however long they don’t have any ideas to the contrary.
why it was implemented - so that executive #279 can show executive #114 that number go up. look how our engagement is rising! look at all them people downloading our app! when I took over from exec #317, number was this big, lookie now!
same way google made their search worse, so you have to search multiple times, thus upping the engagment, page views, etc. and then exec X goes to exec Y and say “look there’s a huge rise in searches where my bonus at!”
it’s not “forever”.
So true. Today it is known that you only buy a license of the games from Steam. And since Epic Games works in the same way as Steam, this also applies to them. They can delete any games from your library whenever they want - just like that *click*. I stopped buying games on Steam when that came out publicly and moved to GOG instead.
Same reason Microsoft allows people to use Windows without a license key.
(They want to get people used to their platform so they increase their popularity, and thus making more money in the end)
It’s also one of the reasons why they allow 3rd parties to run their own activation servers. All you gotta do is type a couple of lines in command prompt to change your activation servers from Microsoft’s to such a 3rd party, type in the volume license key they provide for free, and now you have a 100% legit copy of Windows, no cracks or workarounds needed.
Microsoft makes it so easy to activate Windows for free that there’s no way it was unintentional.
To lure people away from Steam and onto their platform. There is no ulterior motive. Origin does/did (IDK I haven’t played an EA game in years) this too for the same reason.
Amazon games does it too.
The catch is downloading the Epic Launcher. Or not even that if you are on Linux.
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I’ve claimed probably 70% of the free games for the past four or five years. I’ve noticed some of the titles disappear. So one catch is, you may not get to keep the free game(s) you grab.
Nah that’s pretty weird I’ve not heard of that before. I’ve snagged a fair number and still got them as far as I can tell.
I still have hundreds, but they do disappear like any purely digital asset.
make bad platform give free games ??? profit
The problem with EPIC games is, that you need an account with your full name and data, even for an free game, not needed in Steam or GOG, where it is enough with nick and mail, only the need for more if you want to buy a game. Searching free games, only Steam and Itch.io are full of these.
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Of course they want to lure you in, but honestly I never bought anything there despite catching the free games regularly. Setting up the account doesn’t require much personal information and you can just use tools like Heroic instead of their app.
They also for sure get revenue from the hardware companies, seeing recent game releases like Doom -The Dark Ages or ILL, where you need a GPU with at least 32 GB to run it with more than 20 FPS in standart resolution, while you grill bacon on the power supply
Standard resolution for me is FHD. Heavy duty games O.o If it is true, that is. Any source? DOOM: The Dark Ages requires 16 GB in GPU on recommended and ILL’s system requirements are TBA.
When I read your comment, I could not stop thinking about those exclusive games that Epic Games have every now and then. I highly dislike that!
Hardware companies need money. Yes, Doom need at least 16GB Ram for running the game in 1024x768 pxs, as said windowed and ILL for sure need more when the release it. It’s programmed onsolence, while current PC can survive almost 15 years or more, they try it with the soft to make these obsolete. Apart of the prices for these games, DOOM>€100 and ILL for sure isn’t cheaper. OK. the graphics are stunning, but this don’t make a game better than others, these games anyway, apart of the graphics, offers normally an gameplay pretty lineal.
My favoritefirst person game since almost 10 years is The Dark Mod, nice graphics, not worse as in commercial games, intelligent gameplay, it don’t need an NASA computer to run it, almost any cheap Laptop is enough, works on Windows, Linux and Mac and is 100%free. 170 community made missions, more released every few month, you can download and add these in the same game menu.

The Dark Mod ❤️
2 great new TDM missions released
- The Last Night on Crookshank Line
- The Lieutnant 4 - A Reciprocal Gambit
Thanks! Will try them out sometime :) Last time I tried download missions (which was maybe 2 months ago), I got 404. Hopefully that issue will be fixed now.
Edit: the error was not 404, but “Cannot connect to server”. I had to execute a command to make it work. Will give one of these missions a shot now.
Point is so that you might accidentally click on some F2P crap over there and actually spend more money than you would have otherwise. Bonus points if it’s Fortnite. They love filling it with so much confetti and showing off. Brings a lot of money.








