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Summary
You can add games to your Steam library without paying by grabbing free-to-play and outright free titles, by keeping an eye out for promotions and giveaways, or by redeeming free games you get as part of other memberships.
Steam is the world’s biggest online gaming marketplace, but that doesn’t mean you always need to open your wallet. There are plenty of opportunities to get games for free on Steam, you just need to know where to look and have patience.
Some Steam Games Are Free to Play
Free-to-play games, often abbreviated as F2P, have been designed around a “freemium” business model. The game was designed with a free price point in mind, with publishers looking to capitalize on it using in-app purchases.
These purchases often take the form of premium currencies used to buy items (often cosmetic) from the in-game shop, so-called loot boxes, or a battle pass system that rewards players with items as they progress through a season of events. While there is no need to pay any money to play a free-to-play game, players may feel pressured to do so.
The free-to-play model has been criticized for its at-times predatory nature, wheregames target certain types of gamersand usefear of missing outto drum up sales. There areresearch papersand countlessthinkpiecesdiscussing this issue in-depth., Keep in mind that even if a game is free to play, it was designed with a profit motive in mind.
That’s not to say there aren’t some compelling free-to-play experiences to be had out there. Some examples of free-to-play games on Steam that you might want to check out include:
You’ll find these games have their own category on Steam. Simply open the launcher then hover “Categories” then select “Free to Play” from the menu that appears.
Legitimately Free Games Exist on Steam Too
Many games are available on Steam for free, without the kinds of in-app purchases you’d associate with free-to-play experiences. Often these are also designed with a profit motive in mind, with many “base” games released for free in the hope that you’ll buy expansions and downloadable content to keep playing.
Some games are just free, outright. Other free games were once full-priced items that have since been expanded upon. Here are some examples of both types of free games:
In terms of categorization, Steam doesn’t differentiate these titles from standard traditional free-to-play, so they too can be found in the “Free to Play” category (even if they lack purchases altogether).
Look for Steam Game Giveaways
There are a few other ways of scoring free games that don’t involve stealing them. The first is to simply keep an ear to the ground for giveaways. It’s not uncommon for games to go free for a short while, in the same way that many games go on sale inSteam’s famous winter and summer sale events.
You can use websites likeSteamDBto track these promotions, or make a habit of checking ther/FreeGamesOnSteamor evenr/steamdealssubreddits. Promotions usually only last a day or two but include full-price games that you can keep forever as if you’d bought them for full price. A Google News search for “free on Steam” or similar is also worth a look.
You can also check theHumble Bundlewebsite for heavily discounted or completely free Steam keys from time to time.Amazon Prime membersmay also beeligible for free game keysas part of their membership onPrime Gaming. If you’re already paying for the service, picking up a few free games is a nice bonus.
Lastly, giveaways also exist on Twitter and other social media platforms. Searching for “steam giveaway” on your platform of choice is bound to yield some results, but many of the accounts giving away Steam keys require that you respond, retweet, follow, and more to be in with a chance of winning. The best sources for legitimate giveaways on Steam are the developers or publishers promoting the game.
Be Aware That Scams Exist
As is often the case on the internet, if it seems too good to be true it probably is. Many websites promising free Steam keys are there simply to scam you. At best they’re offering something that doesn’t exist, at worst they’re trying to steal things like personal information, payment details, store logins, and more.
You should also avoid “cheap” Steam keys sold via reseller websites. Many of these vastly reduced Steam keys arepurchased with stolen credit cards. The keys to any purchases may be revoked without a refund and in the worst-case scenario your Steam account could be banned (though this is unlikely).
Much of the time it’s the company who distributed the keys (developers and publishers) who lose out when the credit card companies refuse to honor transactions. Some indie developers have even gone as far astelling gamers to pirate their gamesinstead of buying them on reseller websites, since stolen keys may end up costing the company.
The Epic Games Store Frequently Has Free Games
If we can tear you away from Steam for a moment, theEpic Games Storehas a free game every week that’s yours to keep forever. Past titles have included Death Stranding, Metro: Last Light Redux, Alien: Isolation, and Sonic Mania (to name just a few).
Despite launching as a threadbare alternative to Steam, Epic’s store has sinceadded basic game achievementsand nowprocesses refunds too. It’s also the only place you’re able to play Fortnite on a PC, which might beworth another shot after the Unreal Engine 5.1 upgrade.
