Epic’s Year in Review 2021 showed an overall growth trend across the year, adding a huge number of 34 million new users since 2020 and increases in daily, monthly, and concurrent user counts. The publisher’s growth is the result of their own efforts and strategy to grow the platform as well as the explosive growth of PC gaming and hardware sales in 2021.
In the Year 2021, the Epic Games Store gave away 89 free big titles valued at $2,120, which added up to a huge 765 million copies claimed across the year 2021. Epic’s announcement confirmed the company will continue to provide free game giveaways in 2022 as well to attract new users and provide quality content to existing users. The free games (which are paid on another store like steam and other game providers) are made available to the store’s users every Thursday and are a permanent part of their game library once claimed.
The free games that are given away are hardly free to Epic. The company is still responsible for paying from their own pocket to game developers so that the game makes it available to their users at zero cost. Epic looks to continue to provide these games free in hopes of continued user base growth and increased spending on future exclusives. While it might seem like a losing battle, the free games have been a big advantage in Epic’s ability to gain some ground against big services like Steam.
The company’s announcement showed several other developments coming in 2022, including expanded social and community features, game hubs, and Epic Games Store application enhancements. Fans and critics alike can follow Epic’s planned and upcoming content and enhancements through the Epic Games Store Roadmap on Trello.
