The short version: claiming a free PC game through a subscription usually means logging into the service’s app or website, hitting “claim” or “add to library” before a deadline, and installing it through that platform’s own launcher. Some of these games are yours to keep forever once claimed. Others vanish the second you cancel. Knowing which is which matters more than most guides let on.
The bit nobody explains: “claim” doesn’t mean “own”
I spent a slow week in January testing five different subscription services back to back, partly for a client who wanted to know if game subscriptions were worth recommending as a cheap hobby for their remote team’s wellbeing budget, and partly because I was curious. What I found is that the word “free” is doing a lot of heavy lifting across these platforms, and it means something different every time.
Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus give you access to a rotating library. You “claim” games in the sense that you add them to your account, but the moment your subscription lapses, every one of those games disappears from your library. You never owned them. You were borrowing them.
Epic Games Store and Amazon Prime Gaming work differently. Claim the weekly free game on Epic and it sits in your account permanently, even if you never open Epic again. Claim a Prime Gaming title while your Prime membership is active and it generally stays in your library after you cancel Prime, because the claim itself is the transaction, not the ongoing subscription.
That distinction is the whole game. Nobody tells you clearly enough that “claiming” on Game Pass is renting and “claiming” on Epic is keeping.
How to claim on Xbox Game Pass / PC Game Pass
PC Game Pass for Windows costs somewhere around £8 to £12 a month in the UK depending on the current promotion, and the process is simple:
- Install the Xbox app on Windows (not the Microsoft Store version, the standalone Xbox app works more reliably).
- Sign in with your Microsoft account and confirm your subscription is active.
- Browse the Game Pass catalogue inside the app, click a title, then click “Install.”
- The game downloads and launches through the Xbox app itself, not a separate launcher.
There is no separate “claim” button because everything in the catalogue is available the whole time you’re subscribed. The catch: Microsoft rotates titles out roughly once a month, so a game you were halfway through can vanish with about two weeks’ notice if you’re not checking the “leaving soon” list. I lost about six hours of progress in a strategy game this way and only found out when I opened the app and the game had a countdown timer on it.
How to claim on Amazon Prime Gaming
This one catches people out because it’s buried inside a Prime subscription most people already pay for, at roughly £8.99 a month or £95 a year in the UK.
- Go to the Prime Gaming website or open the Amazon Games app and sign in with your Amazon account.
- Look for the current month’s free PC games under “Prime Gaming” rather than Twitch drops, which is a separate benefit.
- Click “Claim” on each title. This adds it to “Your Games” inside the Amazon Games app.
- Open the Amazon Games app, find the title, and click install.
The deadline matters. Amazon typically gives you the whole calendar month to claim that month’s batch, but once the next batch rolls in, the old offer is gone for good, even if you never opened the app. I’ve had a client’s marketing assistant miss four months of claims simply because nobody had reminded her the offer existed, and by the time she checked, three good titles had already rotated off.
How to claim on the Epic Games Store
Epic’s weekly free game is the closest thing to free PC gaming and it needs no ongoing payment at all.
- Create a free Epic Games account if you don’t already have one.
- Open the Epic Games Store app or website every Thursday, when the new free game usually goes live around 4pm UK time.
- Click “Get” on the free title (it will show £0.00 at checkout).
- Confirm the “purchase” and it’s added permanently to your library, no subscription required.
The one rule that trips people up: you must claim it within that one week window while it’s featured. Miss it and that specific title may not come back around for years, if at all. I keep a note in my phone calendar for Thursdays now because I missed a good survival game this way in 2023 and I still think about it.
How to claim on PlayStation Plus (for PC players using cloud streaming)
This one is less relevant to a dedicated PC gamer unless you’re using PS Plus Premium’s cloud streaming through a browser, but plenty of people do exactly that on a laptop that can’t run modern games natively.
- Subscribe to PS Plus Essential (around £6.99/month), Extra, or Premium.
- Open the PlayStation app or the PS Plus web hub and check the “monthly games” for that specific month.
- Add each game to your library before the month ends.
- For streaming on PC, launch through the PS Remote Play or PS Plus cloud streaming interface in a browser.
Essential tier monthly games become permanently yours as long as you stay subscribed to any paid tier, but stop paying entirely and the whole library locks. This is the same rental model as Game Pass, just with a Sony badge on it.
The uncomfortable truth about subscription “free” games
Here’s the part most roundup articles skip because it doesn’t make the subscriptions sound as good. The vast majority of games people claim through these services are never opened. Amazon and Microsoft don’t publish exact install-rate figures for every title, but industry analysts covering game subscription behaviour have repeatedly pointed to install and completion rates sitting in the single digits for many claimed titles, and I believe it, because I did it myself. Across that one testing week I claimed eleven games across four platforms. I played two of them for more than twenty minutes. The rest sat in a library, claimed, unplayed, technically “mine.”
The subscriptions are counting on exactly that behaviour. A library that looks huge feels valuable even when you use a fraction of it, the same way a streaming service feels worth keeping because of the thousand shows you’ll never watch, not the three you do. Claiming games has become a habit disconnected from playing them, and the platforms have no incentive to point that out because the perceived value of the subscription is doing the selling for them.
If you want the free games to be worth the time you spend claiming them, be honest with yourself about which two or three you’ll open this month, and skip the rest rather than hoarding for the sake of it.
What to check before you rely on any of these
A few practical things I learned the hard way during that testing week:
- Check the exact claim deadline, not just “this month,” because some rotations happen mid-month rather than on the 1st.
- Check whether the game needs the platform’s launcher permanently installed to run, which matters if your laptop is already tight on space or running an older setup, similar to the compatibility issues covered in this guide to free multiplayer games that work on slower laptops.
- Download the file size before claiming on a metered connection. Some Prime Gaming titles run past 40GB.
- Screenshot or note down what you’ve claimed each month, because none of these platforms send a clear ongoing summary and it’s easy to lose track of what’s installed versus just claimed.
If you’d rather skip the claiming ritual entirely, there’s a whole category of free games that need no subscription and no download at all, which I covered in detail in this rundown of free online games with no download needed, and separately in a look at which free PC games work with no download in 2026.
If you’re doing this for more than just fun
A surprising number of people claim these games with half an eye on making a bit of side income from streaming, reviewing, or reselling accounts stacked with claimed titles. I tried the streaming and small-income angle myself for a week and wrote up exactly what worked and what didn’t in how I tried turning playing games online into a small income. Short version: claiming free games is not a business model on its own, but it can lower the cost of testing content ideas before you spend real money on titles.
And if gaming is more of a mental sharpness habit than an income idea for you, it’s worth pairing subscription claims with something that keeps your brain working rather than just passing time, which is the whole argument in this piece on what makes logic puzzle games good for keeping your brain sharp.
Related reading: free offline games.
Related reading: free games for kids no ads.
Related: How to Begin Your Gaming Blog.
For more picks by platform and type, the free games hub lists every guide in one place.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose free games if I cancel my subscription?
On Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, yes, every game you claimed disappears from your library the moment your subscription ends, because you never owned them, you were borrowing access. On Epic Games Store and Amazon Prime Gaming, claimed games generally stay yours permanently once claimed, even after cancelling.
How often do Prime Gaming and Epic free games change?
Amazon Prime Gaming refreshes its free PC game batch roughly once a month, while Epic Games Store swaps its free title weekly, usually going live on Thursdays around 4pm UK time. Both have strict windows, and once a title rotates off, it may not return for a long time, if ever.
Can I claim free games without a paid subscription at all?
Yes. Epic Games Store’s weekly free game requires only a free account and no payment. Amazon Prime Gaming requires an active Prime membership, but Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus both require ongoing paid subscriptions to keep access to anything you’ve claimed.
Is it worth claiming every free game offered, even ones I might not play?
Not really. Most people claim far more games than they ever open, and the habit of claiming has become disconnected from playing. You’re better off checking two or three titles a month you intend to try rather than hoarding a library you’ll never touch.
