Free GTA V is Great – But Wait Till You See Epic’s Upcoming AAA Freebies

• A new leak suggests Epic Games will follow up this week’s Grand Theft Auto V with an impressive lineup of Epic Games Store freebies.
• Expected games include Civilization VI, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, and Ark: Survival Evolved.
• If genuine, the leak suggests Epic is continuing a steady shift toward treating players to more popular AAA games.

Hot on the heels of Epic Games treating players to Grand Theft Auto V as part of its weekly Epic Games Store weekly freebies, it looks like some stellar titles are soon to follow. Or, at least, according to a reported leak.

Said leak comes courtesy of Reddit, as they so often do. Somewhat unusually, it comes with supporting evidence in the form of a screenshot emblazoned with Epic Games’ signature logo. This screenshot certainly aids the credibility of the leak and could be an internal document, but could just as easily be doctored.

An Impressive Freebies Line-Up Heading to the Epic Games Store

On to the good stuff. The screenshot suggests that Epic Games is preparing to give away a pretty impressive line-up of games in the weeks ahead.

Following on from Grand Theft Auto V yesterday – which the screenshot correctly displays – players can look forward to Fixaxis’ excellent turn-based strategy game, Civilization VI, on May 21.

Following is Gearbox’s looting-and-shooting Borderlands: The Handsome Collection a week later on May 28. Finally, a free copy of Studio Wildcard’s Ark: Survival Evolved should hit the Epic Games Store on June 4.

After Grand Theft Auto V, which set the bar incredibly high, all these titles look like viable candidates.

A Shift To AAAs

It’s worth reiterating that it’s currently difficult to gauge just how accurate the leak is, and as such, we’d recommend a bit of caution. If genuine, it suggests Epic Games is eager to continue an impressive run of free titles, with a distinct shift towards offering popular AAA titles.

That’s not to say previous freebies have lacked quality; indeed, the Epic Games Store has handed out some fantastic indies like Celeste and Hyper Light Drifter. But, the transition to games like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Watch Dogs, Just Cause 4, and, of course, Grand Theft Auto V is sure to lure in even more users to the storefront.

We only have to look at how the sheer demand for Grand Theft Auto V caused the Epic Games Store to buckle under the strain for a few hours.

Whether that uptake converts to the sale of other games is another story, but Epic Games sure is pulling out all the stops to get players on the storefront in the first place.