Epic Games Store crashes as Death Stranding added as free game for Christmas

The Epic Games Store crashed across Christmas Day as servers struggled to keep up with demand for Death Stranding. The game was offered for free as part of their Christmas promotion, leading to hundreds of thousands of downloads.

Epic Games is bringing the festive cheer with its free game promotion across Christmas. Every day there is a new game to download for free, as well as in-game content for many of their flagship titles like Fortnite.

They usually save the best for the big day though, and they held no punches with their December 25 big ticket offering: Death Stranding.

The 2019 title, developed by icon Hideo Kojima, won numerous awards for its amazing graphics and story. It was divisive at the time for its lacklustre gameplay, compared to being a walking simulator, but it was well received for the most part.

If you missed out the first time ⁠— or want to get involved as the sequel, announced at The Game Awards 2022, nears ⁠— now’s your chance.

Many took Epic Games up on their offer, so much so their servers crashed and downloads had to be halted for a couple of hours. The platform acknowledged the issues within an hour of the promotion launching, before things were solved two hours later.

Some have been critical of Epic Games Store in the promotion though. Originally the platform put the Death Stranding Director’s Cut for free. Within a couple of hours, it was swapped to the Standard Edition, with those missing the initial rush feeling left out.

It is possible to upgrade from the base game to the Director’s Cut for a discount during the promotion as well. And at the end of the day, getting something for free is better than nothing.

Death Stranding will be available for free until the end of December 25 on the Epic Games Store, with another new game coming on December 26 as the promotion continues.