Fall Guys goes free in June
Fall Guys is going free-to-play on Tuesday, June 21, as well as coming to the Epic Games Store. It will also be making its debut on various console platforms, which matters because the game will have cross-play and cross-progression across all of them—so this should be quite the second wind of players.
After the switch, Fall Guys will no longer be available to new players on Steam, but those who already own a Steam copy will continue to receive the same updates as Epic Store players.
The F2P launch will come alongside a fresh start for its seasons, new in-game currency (Show-Bucks) and what developer Mediatonic calls "major updates" to the progression system. The new 'Season 1' is appropriately named Free For All, and features a giant arena with new events and locations.
Existing players will get a 'Legacy Pack' when the F2P change happens, which contains a bunch of cosmetics and the first Season Pass for free. The Season Pass is available to purchase for new players with Show-Bucks, and the existing free progression path and in-game currency (Kudos) will remain.
Fall Guys was released in August 2020 and was a breakout success. It always felt like it was one of those games that benefitted from lockdown in a big way: a bit slight, sure, but silly and colourful multiplayer fun with a joyous knockabout atmosphere. Its success led to developer Mediatonic's acquisition by Epic Games, and since then it's followed a Fortnite-lite model of regular brand crossovers alongside new modes and seasons—and is clearly just getting started.
After acquiring Rocket League developer Psyonix in 2019, Epic also moved that game to a free-to-play model, so this kind of thing is perhaps becoming a pattern.