Whereas the Epic Games Store has normalized the idea of giving away free premium-tier PC games on a weekly basis, Valve's Steam hasn't been nearly as generous on that front over the years. Sure enough, a game will be given out every now and again, but the opportunity to claim a paid game at no charge whatsoever is far from commonplace on Steam.

This is what makes the fact that Ninja Stealth is free to claim on Steam such a noteworthy piece of news. Coming from the indie game developer SC Jogos, Ninja Stealth is an overhead stealth title that is usually priced at $4,99, but is now freely available for activation and download due to SC Jogos celebrating the game's sixth anniversary.

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While the exact pattern of Epic's free game giveaways has become somewhat predictable over the years, this is hardly the case with Steam. Whether the developers give away their game or not is left purely to their own devices, and Valve doesn't offer any specific boons to those that opt into doing so. SC Jogos' celebration of Ninja Stealth's 2016 release is, then, a bit of an event in its own right, and one that's underlined even further by just how rare Steam giveaways have been compared to those hosted on the Epic Games Store.

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Steam users interested in claiming Ninja Stealth have until June 13 to do so, and it may also be worth pointing out that SC Jogos has got a variety of other games on sale, most of which have now been heavily discounted as part of its promotional efforts. At the same time, it's also worth pointing out that the game isn't listed among Steam Deck's 2,500 playable titles, but may be worth claiming for users of the handheld gaming PC, as it's simply "untested" at this time.

In most cases, free game giveaways on Steam are time-limited events rather than permanent account-level unlocks. For example, Paradox Interactive's recent Steam sale allowed users not only to purchase many of its games at deeply discounted prices, but also opened up Stellaris as a free weekend download. This allowed players who were still on the fence about the game to give it a whirl and see if they enjoy it before spending any money.

The users of Valve's gaming platform may also be thrilled to find out that Call of Duty is coming back to Steam after a very long franchise hiatus. While Activision is yet to confirm if this will be the case for its other titles in the future, too, this suggests that the company may be interested in setting a new precedent for Call of Duty, at the very least.

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Source: Steam