A retro game publisher suggests that offering games for free on the Epic Games Store can be a successful strategy for boosting visibility and sales on platforms like Steam and gaming consoles.
New Blood Interactive has always been happy with Steam and hasn’t tried to compete with it like some other publishers. They focus on releasing smaller, retro-inspired games rather than large, mainstream blockbusters. A good example is the Polish game Blood West, which has done well thanks to the competition Steam offers.
Wild West gains on Steam thanks to EGS
This Polish western-style game, known for its unique pixelated graphics, came out over two years ago and has been surprisingly successful. Its popularity led to the announcement of downloadable content in September 2025, followed by a significant update (version 4.5) in August. The developers recently released a small patch to address a few issues. This consistent and ongoing support clearly demonstrates the game’s continued success.
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It was expected that sales for a specialized game like this would fall off quickly, even at a low price. Therefore, the publisher made a sensible decision by offering it for free through Epic Games.
The game Blood West was offered for free on the Epic Games Store for 24 hours as part of their Christmas promotions. Surprisingly, this free giveaway seems to have boosted sales on Steam, with sales numbers doubling on the same day.
Dave Oshry, president of New Blood Interactive, responded to a popular meme about players avoiding the Epic Games Store (EGS), as reported by PC Gamer. The meme highlighted the idea that some gamers would rather purchase a game on sale through Steam than receive it for free on EGS. Oshry admitted he once believed EGS was ineffective for marketing, but he’s now realized that giving games away for free on Epic actually boosts sales on Steam!
He explained that Hyperstrange Studios received all the money from the Epic Games Store giveaway. This, combined with higher sales on Steam, gave them the funds to develop a new downloadable content pack. The publisher is also happy with the increase in copies sold across all platforms. Oshry confirmed that Blood West saw a boost in sales on consoles as well, thanks to Epic’s giveaway, not just on PCs.
Beyond that, the American creator has made it obvious he doesn’t have a good opinion of Epic Games, based on his responses to comments on his social media post. He concisely captured his feelings with a comment like, “Everything wrong with the Epic Games Store is their doing.”
It’s still unclear what Epic Games Store meant by “200%” during their holiday giveaway. While Oshry provided a graph, the missing numbers make it impossible to know if this refers to a large or small increase in game copies. However, the data suggests that even offering games for free isn’t enough to convince players to switch from Steam, despite many believing Valve has a monopoly on PC game distribution.
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2026-01-19 14:03