The Epic Games Store recently revealed fans will receive Saturnalia and Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus on October 27, and while both are solid additions to the storefront, it's the former that should set a major trend. Indeed, Saturnalia is a day-one release coming to the Epic Games Store for free, and as its competitors push "day one" releases on their subscription services, EGS would do well to adapt and repeat the process.
As many know, Xbox Game Pass makes a big deal about giving out day-one titles, including all major first-party games, while PS Plus is avoiding the latter but giving out day-one games like Stray. It's not as often as Game Pass, of course, but these free day-one titles are a major draw. It should be noted that there is a major caveat here: Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus are subscription services that players pay for every month, while the Epic Games Store is storefront. Its use is free, and the free Epic Games Store games are an added bonus on top of that. Perhaps because of this, many free Epic Games Store games are older (though games like Rogue Legacy have appeared on it before a sequel release).
Epic Games Store Day One Free Releases
Arguably, Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus have the stronger draw, base, and so on to give out day one games for free. The Epic Games Store, meanwhile, does not do this as often, nor could it probably. However, the fact that the Epic Games Store is free to use could be a major strength should it push this forward as a monthly trend. Because its barrier to entry is slightly lower (if limited to the PC platform), Epic Games Store giving away day one games is likely to draw in even more consumers than before. Saturnalia is an interesting indie horror game, for example, and while it has prices on other platforms like the Switch, playing it for free on PC is no doubt going to draw more horror fans in.
Even if EGS didn't do it weekly, giving out one or two games for free that are day-one releases would no doubt bolster the service further. Just as Sony adapted the new PS Plus tiers to compete with Xbox Game Pass, EGS should adapt the idea of day-one releases and use its strengths to push these titles and its services.
Of course, Saturnalia could be a one-off, or it could be super rare moving forward, but day-one releases on the Epic Game Store is a much-needed trend.
Epic Games Store users get a handful of free games every month.