There are no subscriptions or purchases required. Players who do not have an account can sign up to avail themselves of this once-a-year bonanza. There were rumors as early as two weeks ago that the Epic Games holiday tradition will return, and were confirmed when a mystery game showed up at the storefront last week.
To kick things off, we’re giving away Bloons TD 6! But hurry - you only have 24 hours to claim! https://t.co/P9aE2tfHeX pic.twitter.com/9vqBd09W6I — Epic Games Store 🎁 (@EpicGames) December 15, 2022 This year, Epic Games is kicking off the holiday giveaway with Bloons TD 6, developed by Ninja Kiwi. In the tower defense game, players are tasked to create a defense consisting of monkeys and other structures to prevent enemy Balloons (Bloons) from reaching the exit. Destroying balloons earns the player money to buy new structures. While the first game may not be an AAA title, this is just the start of this year’s giveaway. Hopefully, some big titles will be given away this year - and if past years’ giveaways are any indication, there are bound to be some heavy hitters among the gifts. Every day, a new game will be available for free. The games are not revealed in advance but are called Mystery Games. This compels gamers who want to get in on the action to log in every day to claim the free game. So far, only one game has been leaked for this year’s free games list. Dealabs user billbil-kun hinted that Mortal Kombat 11 will be part of the list. Last year, billbil-kun released the entire list of free games for the holiday season. In 2020, Epic Games gave away 12 games representing the twelve days of Christmas. Last year, the storefront upped it to 15 games, to which it seems to be sticking this year as well. This format is a shakeup compared to the usual weekly giveaways that run throughout the year. Last year, Shenmue 3 was the first game of the Holiday giveaway. Some AAA titles made an appearance as free games. Prey from Arkane Austin and Control by Remedy Entertainment were some of the bigger titles that were given away for free. Vampyr from Don’t Nod and Pathfinder: Kingmaker by OwlCat Gamers were also part of last year’s Epic Games Store giveaway. The 2021 Holiday Giveaway was capped off by the Tomb Raider trilogy. Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider were all up for grabs on the same day at the very end of the holiday special. Epic Games has made a name for itself with its weekly giveaways. Last year, the storefront gave away 89 titles with a combined worth of $2,120. 765 million games were claimed by users in 2021. This giveaway strategy reaches back all the way to the storefront’s launch, where giveaways were used to make it competitive against more established platforms. Clearly, the strategy worked.
