If Steam’s big draw is the seasonal sale with an avalanche of ludicrous discounts, the Epic Games Store’s big draw is the freebie. Games are free to keep on the platform so often that the folks at PC Gamer maintain a living list with the latest offerings, and even though Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has conceded in the past that some of those deals weren’t good investments, it remains an “economical” strategy for the storefront.
But just as all life ends in death, all digital gaming commerce ends in a cut for GabeN. Last Friday, New Blood CEO Dave Oshry said on X that Blood West’s free giveaway on the Epic Games Store was a boon for the game… on Steam, where it sold “like 200% more” that day.
Watch On
He was quote-reposting a meme with over 40,000 likes expressing the sentiment that a cheap game on Steam is preferable to a free game on EGS. In the thread, he elaborated: “I used to think EGS was a Marketing Black Hole but turns out having your game be free on Epic is great advertising for Steam sales!” He added that console sales spiked, as well.
Is the Epic Games launcher really that bad? It’s already got a huge install base since you need it to play one of the most popular games on Earth, and even if it’s not quite as feature-rich as Steam, free is still free, right? Well, maybe. But Sweeney himself admitted the platform is kind of a hassle to use, and in 2024 we rated it a dismal 41% for its barebones feature suite, rough performance, and ugly look.
To be fair, it’s like most other game launchers in that regard. Steam, GOG Galaxy, and the Battle.net launcher are the only ones I don’t despise navigating, but while smaller operations like itch.io are appealing for their pro-indie spirit, Epic has done little to garner that sort of goodwill. Even if 72% of developers reckon Steam has a monopoly, players often hesitate to split their libraries up and are keen to celebrate Steam’s triumph as long as it provides the best service.
Cases like this Blood West sales spike seem to suggest that free games aren’t enough to overcome a quality UX that PC gamers have been attached to for years. And if those same free games are available on Steam for a few bucks, we’ve already established that 8 bucks is 5 bucks and 2 bucks is basically free.
