The Epic Games Store surprised fans with a
free release of "Grand Theft Auto V" on Thursday, but the massive rush
to download the game has caused server errors across the platform.
It is a known problem that is impacting
games beyond "GTA V." In fact, users trying to access the U.S. company
website are getting error messages.
"We are currently experiencing high traffic
on the Epic Games Store," Epic Games wrote on Twitter at 11:05 a.m. ET.
"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."
In
an update at 12:58 p.m. ET, the company wrote, "We understand that many
users are unable to access the Epic Games Store at this time. We
appreciate your patience as we continue to work towards a resolution to
mitigate traffic."
The
issue seems to stem from an underestimation of how much interest there
would be in the game, which was originally released in 2013. With a reported one-week window for users to download before the deal disappears, though, the frenzy perhaps should have been anticipated.
When the servers do return, users who want to download "GTA V" for free will need to use two-factor authentication.
We will update this post as fixes and news about the Epic Games Store shutdown become available.
UPDATE 2:45 p.m. ET:
Parts of the Epic Games site, including account sign up and community
forums, are now operational. The store itself remains down.
UPDATE 3:45 p.m. ET: Users are beginning to get through to the store and begin downloads. If you've been having trouble, it's worth trying again.
For now, find some solace in the wave of Twitter jokes finding humor in the situation: