Epic Games has revealed that its Free Games Program will still run in 2023.
This information was announced by Epic Games through its social media. If you’re interested in Epic Games games, you can check out our other articles here.
Epic Games: Free Games Program to Continue in 2023
In the “Epic Games Store 2022 Year in Review” blog post, there was some expected but exciting news: Epic Games isn’t done giving away free games.
“Our weekly Free Games Program will continue in 2023,” wrote Epic Games.
The blog post also included some statistics about free game rewards in 2022. According to Epic Games, if you claimed all 99 games awarded in 2022, you would have $2,240 worth of games. Overall, “nearly 700 million” free games were claimed in 2022.
What is the Free Game Selection System?
Speaking with The Verge, Steve Allison also explained how Epic Games chooses its free games. According to him, Epic Games’ goal is to have one “tentpole” game every month. “Those become really big weeks,” Allison said.
For the weeks with smaller games, Epic Games always tries to highlight hidden gems, teams that the company respects, or developers that may be releasing upcoming games.
“The smallest free games on any given week get between 6.5 to 7 million claims,” Allison said. According to him, larger games will get between 20 to 25 million claims.
Tim Sweeney added that developers are seeing an increase in sales on the Epic Games Store and Steam. Sweeney also pointed out that free games can be a good deal for players in developing countries where games may be more expensive.
While Epic Games said that spending on third-party apps totaled $355 million, up 18% year-over-year, when the company included their games, spending fell 2% year-over-year, at $820 million. Sweeney attributed the decline primarily to Fortnite.
The funny thing that happened post-pandemic was that Fortnite’s monthly active users increased, but playtime, hours played, and spending decreased.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games
