7 million people made Epic accounts to grab GTA V for free

Epic's freebie strategy is working and millions of people are signing up every month to grab free games.

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The Epic Games Store hasn't been profitable since launch. Epic is first focusing on building out a playerbase and then moving to long-term profits. To help build out a playerbase outside of Fortnite users, Epic has created two loss-leading initiatives: huge multi-million dollar deals to snag PC exclusives and monthly promotional freebies, not unlike those on Xbox LIVE Gold and PlayStation Plus. The freebies are working quite well, especially in the case of GTA V.

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According to new court documents from the Epic vs Apple case, over 7 million people signed up for new Epic Games Store accounts to grab Grand Theft Auto V for free.

The GTA V freebie also coincides with the second largest spike in GTA V sales revenues since the game's release in 2013. GTA V sold 5 million copies during this period.

As of December 2020, the Epic Games Store had 56 million monthly active users. GTA V sign-ups represent over 12% of this figure.

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Grand Theft Auto V shipments have broken 150 million worldwide, and that number is set to rise with the game's new next-gen version this November.

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