The Epic Mega Sale 2020 has begun. The firm might have opening expected fireworks with an AAA giveaway – GTA V Premium Edition – yours to claim and keep forever in your games library. Unfortunately, though Epic must have been predicted extraordinary levels of demand, the Epic Games Store (EGS) hasn't been able to cope and has figuratively DDoSed itself.
At the time of writing I can't reach the EGS at all via my home fibreinternet in England, trying to navigate to the store just results in a 500 error page featuring a 'back to store' button.
Epic has taken to Twitter to explain the situation, just in case it wasn't rather obvious what had happened / is happening.
We are currently experiencing high traffic on the Epic Games Store.
— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) May 14, 2020
We are aware that users may be encountering slow loading times, 500 errors, or launcher crashing at this time and we are actively working to scale. We'll provide an update as soon as we can.
Epic had been trailing a 'Mystery game' giveaway for a few days, breaking from tradition of being quite open about what was in the pipeline, and going so far as having a countdown timer underneath a mystery placeholder image. I read rumours that GTA V was going to be the giveaway, an ad leaked about 12 hours ago, and the giveaway news is currently trending on social media making the situation stickier.
If you would really like a free copy of GTA V , Epic should gave the gumption to get servers back up and working responsively before the giveaway period ends (21st May, so you have a week to claim it).
When the site is revived it is probably also worth looking through the Mega Sale 2020 items with up to 75 per cent off 'great games' and endless Epic coupons sent to buyers too. Apparently games such as Control, Borderlands 3, and Anno 1800 will have their prices slashed by half, and buyers will get those $10 coupons after every transaction too.
With GTA V on the free menu this week and the sale running for four weeks (until 11th June) one wonders what else Epic has lined up. Twitter games enthusiast and leakster Wario64 reckons The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is next up.
adding another rumor: The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is coming to Epic Games Store eventually, and could be a free game in the future https://t.co/cy8WgPla7d
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 14, 2020
Game was listed on EGS earlier today but is pulled (thumbnail still hosted on Epic though) https://t.co/RTSGgCqL06 pic.twitter.com/GT1FL7njWi
