this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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Privacy

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Like what the title says. There's always a catch unless it's FOSS. So, what is the catch with them giving games for free that you can keep forever? What will the developers of the games get as a thank you?

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[–] throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Same reason Microsoft allows people to use Windows without a license key.

(They want to get people used to their platform so they increase their popularity, and thus making more money in the end)

[–] Psythik@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's also one of the reasons why they allow 3rd parties to run their own activation servers. All you gotta do is type a couple of lines in command prompt to change your activation servers from Microsoft's to such a 3rd party, type in the volume license key they provide for free, and now you have a 100% legit copy of Windows, no cracks or workarounds needed.

Microsoft makes it so easy to activate Windows for free that there's no way it was unintentional.

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I've heard stories of Microsoft support team members suggesting cracks when they couldn't activate the system the legal way.