Free Epic Games Store Giveaway Unexpectedly Drives 200% Sales Spike on Steam
Los Angeles, Tuesday, 20 January 2026.
New Blood CEO Dave Oshry reveals that a free Epic Games Store promotion drove a counter-intuitive 200% sales surge on Steam, challenging traditional digital platform economics.
The “Marketing Black Hole” Reversal
In a digital marketplace where free giveaways are typically assumed to cannibalize premium sales, New Blood Interactive has identified a striking anomaly. On December 20, 2025, the studio listed its stealth-horror shooter Blood West as a free 24-hour holiday giveaway on the Epic Games Store (EGS) [4][6]. Rather than diminishing the game’s commercial performance elsewhere, CEO Dave Oshry reported that the promotion triggered a sales increase of approximately 200% on the rival platform Steam on that specific day [1][2]. This surge extended beyond the PC market, with the title also experiencing a notable uptake in console sales during the promotional window [1][5].
Community Ecosystems Over Free Content
The counter-intuitive consumer behavior—paying for a product on one platform while it is available for free on another—highlights a significant disparity in user experience and platform loyalty. Industry veterans suggest that the intrinsic value of Valve’s platform outweighs the zero-cost appeal of its competitor. Adrian Chmielarz, creator of Painkiller, argues that while the Epic Games Store functions strictly as a transactional “shop,” Steam operates as a comprehensive “community” [1]. The lack of social features on EGS, such as user reviews and forums, creates a sterile environment that fails to generate the emotional engagement found on Valve’s platform [1]. Consequently, players often treat the giveaway as a demo or marketing event, ultimately choosing to purchase the title on the platform where their library and social graph reside [2].
Strategic Capital Allocation
Beyond the immediate sales metrics, the financial architecture of this promotion underscores a developer-centric approach to revenue management. New Blood Interactive directed 100% of the revenue generated from the Epic Games Store payout directly to Hyperstrange, the Polish studio responsible for developing Blood West [4][6]. This capital injection is explicitly earmarked for the development of the game’s upcoming expansion, Endless West [5]. By leveraging the “economical” nature of Epic’s free games program—a strategy Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has defended despite admitting other exclusivity deals were poor investments—the publisher effectively financed future content while simultaneously boosting current unit sales across competitor platforms [2][5].