Last week, I was surfing through the PlayStation store to check out the new releases, hot deals and whatever else was going on. They always have a few “featured categories,” and one was “FREE-TO-PLAY.” In fact, that one is always there.

Here’s a video of me scrolling through the PS Store on my PS App (iOS):

Free to Play

I know there are tons of basic free-to-play shooters like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone. Rocket League is another big free-to-play game, and Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is going free-to-play later this month and coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox.

The list of free-to-play games on PlayStation was much larger than I expected. I know Steam (PC) has an even longer list of free games, and the Epic Game Store hands out a free game each and every week (sometimes more than one).

*According to my Epic Games Store library, I have 263 games. I’m pretty sure I have only paid for less than five of those games (using a coupon).

New “Free” Games

With Xbox’s Game Pass, the games aren’t exactly free but with a monthly subscription fee you gain access to a huge library of “free” games. And later this month, PlayStation will launch their new tiered system of PS Plus, which will follow more of a Xbox Game Pass model.

Xbox Game Pass

PlayStation Plus (Essential | Extra | Premium)

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Play for Free

This all got me thinking about back when my PC gaming friends were spending all of their time playing DOTA 2, a free-to-play game, although their Steam libraries were full of paid titles which had never been touched — and still to this day, have never even been downloaded.

There are so many people who mainly only play Fortnite or some other free-to-play, online game. All you need for many of those games is a mobile device that runs iOS or Android. Even with the purchase of a console you can have countless free gaming experiences, without spending another dime.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that for a long time by getting your hands on any sort of gaming device — whether it’s a smart phone, tablet, PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, or any other device — you can spend no extra money on games and have endless hours of gaming. Today, you can spend a set monthly/yearly fee (for certain subscriptions) and play tons of games that are included in that fee. 

*Beware, many FREE games include microtransactions, including new content, cosmetics, loot boxes, weapons and abilities, and even more — but that’s another topic for another day.