Gamer Guildhall

Many Spring gaming sales have come to an end, with Summer gaming sales still months away. Does this mean there will be a drought in game deals between the two? Is your gaming collection doomed to a season of stagnation? Never fret! We've got you covered in the area of discounted deals and even free games to add to your collection!

It is important to note that the websites that will be mentioned are not connected with Gamer Guildhall and may at times offer free and discounted games of various maturity rating. This information on gaming deals is made available on our website as a service to the gamer community to utilize at one's own discretion. Additionally, parents of young gamers should be aware of what their children may have access to. We believe that while we strive to provide a certain type of service, it is prudent not to ignore the reality of the industry around us. Without further hesitation, let's look at some of the offers available to the gamer community.

FREE GAMES

We'll start with everyone's favorite type of game...FREE! There are many distributors selling games on behalf of developers, ranging from AAA to indie titles. It should come as no surprise that there is often a giveaway available amongst them. We'll focus on a few of the most used vendors to highlight the types of free deals they offer. Let's examine Epic Games, GoG, and Steam.

EPIC GAMES

Epic Games is well known for providing weekly giveaways of at least one free game per week, viewable on the Store front page. A weekly duration for Epic takes place from early Thursday morning to the following early Thursday morning. This allows 7 full days for individuals to claim whatever game is being offered that week. After this time, the game returns to its normal purchase price, excluding potential sale discounts. Once a game is claimed, it is free to keep for as long as that game is provided on the Epic platform.

There are also games on the site that are persistently free, as they are free-to-play. A selection of these games can be viewed on Epic's Free Games page. Since this is not a complete list of free games on Epic's store, visitors can also utilize the Browse feature. To see all free games, simply filter by price to only include those within the free price range. One can then utilize the dropdown tool labeled Show to sort the listing according to organizational preference.

GOG

GOG, aka Good Old Games, is another major distributor that is distinctive in not requiring a client to play the games one purchases. When a free game is offered on this platform, it is usually viewable in its own banner announcement on the front page. If you are subscribed to the GOG newsletter, you will receive an alert to the free game being offered, as well as updates on current game sales. Claiming a free game on GOG usually includes signing up for their free newsletter. This means that if you weren't signed up before, you will begin receiving these informative e-mails after your first claim.

There are also several games on GOG that remain free in perpetuity. A Free Games Collection page is provided on their website. This provides a listing of these games for easy perusal and claiming. As a second option to discover free games on the site, GOG's store allows searching by price. An option to "show only free games" is available as a checkbox, with additional features to allow or exclude DLC's.

STEAM

Steam is a well-known and widely-used distributor that has both perpetually free & free-to-play games with occasional giveaways. One of the best ways to keep up on alerts about giveaways on Steam is to check their News section. They do regularly release articles when a game is free and note the duration for how long the giveaway will last. The website also provides a Free-to-Play listing to find games that fit that description. Lastly, one can also sort by price to Free when using the site's search feature to find games.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

It should be noted that regardless of client requirements, all the above-listed distributors do require individuals to have a registered account to access their services, including claiming free games. While Epic Games, GOG, & Steam may comprise what some may view as the top three game distributors, they are by no means the only services available. For example, IndieGala maintains a Freebies section to view currently offered giveaways on their website. Itch.io, a distributor known for hosting many indie-developed games, also maintains a Free Games page. If you do claim a game from one of these other services, be sure to check the delivery method as they may be providing a third-party key (such as from Steam), which would require you to additionally have an account with that third party.

Twitch is one of biggest streaming services currently available to watch a variety of games as they are played. Often, developers will offer free in-game content in what is termed a "drop" to viewers if they watch a streamer playing their game for a specified amount of time. To claim this drop, once the watchtime requirement has been met, viewers must also have their Twitch account linked to their game account for that specific game. If you have an active Amazon Prime account, you can link it to your Twitch account to unlock Prime Gaming. This will allow you to claim even more free games in a specified time period, with new ones regularly added to the giveaway list.

One final thing to note in the area of free games is that there are services provided to help track giveaways from various sources. As many gamers use Discord to communicate, a variety of bots have been developed to provide both functionality and entertainment. PatchBot is one such bot that allows announcements to be made of the current giveaways on Epic Games, GOG, and Steam. It also allows the latest news from a variety of games to be broadcast on one's Discord server. If you don't have the bot installed on the server or just don't use Discord, one may still visit the website and see the current giveaways on Epic Games, GOG, or Steam as viewable pages.

DISCOUNTED GAMES

Okay, okay...you didn't find that game you want for free. But what about a sale? The game you're looking for could possibly be offered at a discounted price on one or more game distributor services. There are a variety of options to choose from. Let's highlight a few services that can help you find the best deal.

Sometimes when a game is on sale, other distributors may have competitive pricing ranging from a slight to substantial difference. For example, if a game is discounted on Steam, a distributor such as Fanatical may be providing a Steam key for the same game within one of their Dollar Collections. Another seller of discounted game keys is Humble Bundle, which allows you to allocate a portion of your purchase to an associated charity. There are many distributors and vendors to choose from, which is why a service such as IsThereAnyDeal is invaluable in that it allows you to search by game and compare across platforms for the best current sale. It even provides historical sale data to examine the best sale prices a game has been offered at.

REFERRAL CODES

Many of your favorite streamers and content creators have referral codes on the services we've mentioned. Depending on the service, that code may be a referral link you use to go to the vendor's website or a code you type in at checkout. By using that code, you can generally support a streamer or content creator at no additional cost to you. A portion of the purchase price is then usually shared with the individual whose code you've used. Even in the case of free games, it is beneficial to use that individual's referral code as it helps to show maintained activity.

FINAL CONSIDERATION

When looking for free games, one might encounter what is considered "pirated" or "abandonware". A pirated game is one being freely shared without developer permission and abandonware is software considered by others to no longer be supported by the developer despite copyright. In general, both of these situations are illegal and can result in prosecution if discovered. They may also include embedded malicious software if you download or install them, so be forewarned. Make sure to verify the source of any free game offerings to help ensure that what you are obtaining is legitimate.

With all these things in mind, we hope that the services described above will be of use in finding your desired game at the best price or helping to monitor what your child has access to. There is a whole world of games to explore, so let's get started on your Adventures In Gaming!