The Epic Games Store launched in late 2018 as an alternative to Valve's Steam, and Epic Games has been steadily adding features to its storefront and game launcher to lure buyers away from Valve. The latest feature to come to the Epic Games Store is gifting, specifically in preparation for the 2025 holiday season, it seems. The announcement by Epic Games explains that you simply need to select "Buy as a Gift" and then select someone from your friends list to gift the game to. Currently, gifting on Epic Games is limited to web browsers and the Epic Games Store Launcher on PC, and paid games, special editions, add-ons, and bundles can all be gifted. You cannot gift free games, pre-purchase offers, subscriptions, and in-game items or currency.

For those of you looking for an alternative to Steam to gift games to friends or family in a different country or currency—something Steam does not allow—Epic Games isn't your savior, either, at least not yet. Unfortunately, at launch, if you attempt to gift a game to a friend in another country, you will be met with an error. According to Epic Games, though, cross-region gifting is planned for the future, although when exactly it will land is unclear. The basic restrictions on gifting on Epic Games include that you can only send gifts after having been friends with the recipient for at least two days. Recipients can also reject gifts, and rejected gifts and gifts that have not been accepted within 14 days will be refunded. Gifts will also be refunded if the recipient already has the intended gift in their library.

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