After tons of of giveaways, the Epic Games Retailer can nonetheless ship a couple of surprises with its weekly free video games. Some weeks would possibly see under-the-radar indies like Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution given away by way of the Free Games program, whereas different drops have included GOTY winners like Deathloop. How does Epic determine on a recreation for the Free Games program? There are a number of elements at play, like aiming to focus on video games which the general public could have ignored and serving to a studio to lift its profile, Epic says.
“It is a number of elements. We showcase large flagship titles for our tentpole moments–like the Mega Sale and the beginning/finish of the Vacation Sale–that have broad enchantment and get our complete viewers excited,” Kyle Billings, director of technique and enterprise operations on the Epic Games Retailer, mentioned to GameSpot. “We additionally showcase video games that weren’t seen to a large viewers, or assist studios discover a new viewers forward of an upcoming launch. These titles may not have broad enchantment, however the Free Games Program provides them one other shot with gamers who may need missed them earlier than.”
Up to now, Epic’s Free Games program has attracted all kinds of publishers, and Billings added that taking part within the giveaways has had a constructive impression on the studios that took half. “Builders see the worth of participant discovery on the Epic Recreation Retailer: taking part titles have seen a 40% carry in Steam CCU whereas free on the Epic Games Retailer, and 77% of them set all-time peak CCU data on PC in that window. There are legitimate explanation why a developer would possibly select to not take part within the Program, however for studios, participation normally comes right down to timing and the lifecycle administration for his or her video games.”
The Free Games program has additionally seen many individuals create an Epic Games Retailer account purely to seize freebies, however Billings added that there was a conversion fee over time, and one which Epic intends to develop by making some critical upgrades to the storefront.
“The conversion fee for many who declare a free recreation and make a purchase order is about 16% over an affordable period of time. On the finish of the day, it’s not all about participant spend,” Billings mentioned. “The Free Games program is designed to attach gamers with nice video games. A few of these gamers select to not make purchases for no matter motive. Our objective is to maintain constructing a storefront and launcher that gamers need to interact with and use to develop their recreation library, however we want to have the ability to join gamers with the sport they need to play on the time they need to play it.”
In accordance with Epic’s latest year-in-review stats, over $1 billion was spent within the retailer in 2025, and the storefront reached an all-time document of 78 million month-to-month lively customers on PC. Epic can also be trying to make the most of the enchantment of its extremely profitable Fortnite recreation to attract extra folks to the Epic Games Retailer, as the corporate introduced free themed cosmetics primarily based on widespread video games are additionally within the works for gamers of the live-service shooter.