I love the idea of getting older AAA titles for free, but hate the idea of installing the Epic Games Launcher on my computer. Where do you guys stand on this?
It also makes me sad that Epig Games has fallen so far. I grew up on Unreal Tournament and now I don’t want them anywhere near my computer.
I end up claiming the games and never playing them. I wish they’d be more customer friendly, they’re swimming in money (fortnite + unreal royalties) but couldn’t for their lives surpass the very low quality bar of Origin or even UPlay!
I have epic only on my steam deck and refuse to install it on my main pc
I only actively seek games I want to play. I have negative desire to hoard games I know I will never open. I probably wouldn’t take the clutter even if they paid me to take it. Steam or Epic.
My Steam library is caked up with a bunch of decade old Humble Bundle packing peanuts and frankly I kind of wish it wasn’t.
On the rare chance a game I’ve been wanting to play is the free givaway, I might take it if it’s on Steam just because I’m already invested in that platform. If Epic was the one giving it away I probably wouldn’t bother. I don’t need my games library splintered across multiple launchers. I’m already annoyed at having the one. I’d prefer no launcher at all.
If it’s free, it doesn’t hurt to grab it.
But in general, I don’t like to play through Epic anymore. The Expanse Telltale game was the last straw for me. It was an Epic exclusive for a bit. I mostly play through Steam link on different devices, and adding the Expanse as a non-Steam game would only let you play the first chapter. Nah, I’m out.
…really? Are you sure you didn’t just only get the first episode for free? Some of those kinds of story games were released like that. That seems above and beyond Epic’s usual shit.
The license is tied to playing it through the Epic store. Tried it both ways. Plays all the episodes fine playing through Epic. Only lets you play the first episode as a non-Steam game startup, even using the epic launcher as the executable.
But I play mostly on Steam link, so that doesn’t work for me. Luckily it finally came out in Steam. But that’s my last purchase from them.
I got pretty much the same opinion as you, probably a bit angrier about all the shit they did, with Unreal Tournament, their store and spyware and exclusives, and their unoptimized bloated game engine taking over the industry.
So no, I guess I don’t claim those games or have an account. I already have a million games I’ll never finish playing on Steam and emulators anyway.
But what’s a million more?
I’ve claimed most of the free games, but only played a few, and I’ve certainly repurchased some that I have claimed on EGS. I’ve never installed their client (I play through Heroic) and never purchased anything. It takes about 30s to claim on my phone, so I claim on the toilet each Thursday.
I like to think I’m costing EGS more money than by not doing this.
I claim the free stuff. I don’t really understand all the hate they get. It’s just another digital software storefront for gaming. It seems to do its job. Click a button, download the game, play the game. I have no reason to be mad at them.
For me, its their utter disdain for Linux, my primary gaming platform. Their client doesn’t support Linux, games that have Linux builds on Steam or GOG don’t on EGS, they refuse to make Fortnite compatible with Proton (Windows compatibility layer) despite saying how easy it is to support Linux with their anticheat, and public statements by the CEO about how they hate Linux.
I also don’t like the exclusivity agreements, even if the initial exclusivity window doesn’t affect me. I bought Rocket League on Steam, and now I can’t play it there anymore (online at least) because they made it EGS exclusive. I could’ve asked for a refund, but I got my value from it and got it in a bundle anyway (was technically “free” with purchase of the Steam controller/Link), but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
Steam actively supports my platform, and GOG makes Linux builds available (and even provides Linux-native packages for old DOS games). Why would I give EGS any of my money? I’ll claim their free games and play on Heroic as long as that works, but I’m not going any further than that.
A big reason people dislike Epic is due to their forced-exclusivity on a lot of games. A popular, highly-anticipated game will only release the PC version on Epic for the first several months, and then it’ll appear on Steam and other platforms, forcing fans to either wait or sign up for a new platform that they didn’t want anything to do with.
And it’s just one more piece of spyware on your computer to serve as a possible vector of attack from hackers.
This is c/patientgamers, so I assume that first reason wouldn’t bother most of us here. I’m curious about the spyware assertion though. Were they caught doing something shady?
Yeah same. What is this spyware thing you’re taking about? Personally, I think all these connected software soy on you one way or another. I use split tunneling a lot on my VPN and I also have a pihole connected to my router. Anyways, I’m curious to hear why epic is spyware.
Same, I grew up on Unreal and Epic sucks now so I don’t install their shit. They really shit on Linux while Valve has invested big time, so I don’t install epic game store. I don’t have a windows install anymore.
I’ll claim the games if they look interesting but usually someone else has to tell me what’s on there because I don’t look. I won’t buy a game from epic though, so this marketing tactic is lost on me.
Not lost, you boost their active user numbers
Oh well
True, but active user count doesn’t increase revenue. And I imagine higher active users increases the cost Epic pays for those free games.
So I feel like claiming is a net drain.
I have claimed most of the games and some have been real gems. I’ve bought a few games too because they were the cheapest option.
Personally I don’t have a problem with the Epic launcher as it’s just a launcher which is fine by me. I use GOG Galaxy anyway and I’m not a fan of Steam either so don’t care about that aspect.
I always get them but expect them to disappear.
I don’t see any point in claiming free games from it.
If by any chance one of the games I might ever want to play becomes a freebie, then I would simply browse my backlog rather than forsake my principles.
It also makes me sad that Epig Games has fallen so far. I grew up on Unreal Tournament and now I don’t want them anywhere near my computer.
Pretty much this.
I love it. I don’t find it a big deal to have installed their launcher. I run it to redeem or play a game, and kill the process (not just close the window) when I’m done.
i’ve stopped bothering. I saw dredge was free there a little while ago, and that’s a game I want to play. Didn’t even claim it.
Free games are good. Have been using Heroic launcher in Linux. Free or not, I’m still waiting for the time to be right.
