Epic says only 16 to 18% of people claiming free games on the Epic Games Store buy games there afterwards, but "for cost per new user, it's hard to beat"

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Epic says only 16 to 18% of people claiming free games on the Epic Games Store buy games there afterwards, but "for cost per new user, it's hard to beat" News By Austin Wood published 3 February 2026

"Our budget kind of hovers around the $20 million mark"

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(Image credit: Epic Games)

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The Epic Games Store gave out 662 million copies of free games in 2025, adding up to $2,136 worth "in total value per player," according to the company's new year in review report.

These 100 free games averaged a 78% "score," the report reads, though it's a little unclear how that score was determined.

Speaking with GamesRadar+, Epic Games Store VP and GM Steve Allison says that "for every new player that we acquire through the free games program, they convert at 16 to 18%" into paying users.

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"That's a relatively good conversion for the scale coming through the door, and in many cases it's much more than that, in the mid 20s and in some cases the 30s," he says.

Can and will Epic keep giving away games at this rate? "I don't see why not," Allison says. "Our budget kind of hovers around the $20 million mark, but it can go up or down based on opportunity. But generally we view that as our marketing budget.

"It's pretty profound, the impact on new users every year. Somewhere between 7 and 12 million come through that program every year. For cost per new user, it's hard to beat. It has a profound effect on retention and having players in the ecosystem at times where we have other things going on. So I expect us to continue. We may alter the cadence of the program at some point in the future, but from my perspective, I don't see a change."

During a presentation earlier in our call, Allison says "the free games program has been awesome for us. It's awesome for our players, it's a really important part of our initial scaling, and continues to be a good path for user acquisition."

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Separately, on the subject of appealing to both players and developers, he adds: "It's 50/50. We've really biased on the developer side. We've given players good reasons to at least patronize us with the free games, and it's been pretty impressive. It's scaled faster than any of us expected. But you have to win on both fronts. If you get all the developers on board and don't have any players, they're not going to make any sales and you won't get all the developers. And if you get all the players here and you don't have the games, you're not going to reach your goals either."

"My goal on PC isn't to topple Steam": Epic Games Store boss says beating Valve isn't the plan – just getting "enough market share on PC that you have to be here no matter what."

TOPICS Epic Games CATEGORIES PC Gaming Mobile Gaming Platforms Austin WoodSocial Links NavigationSenior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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