Epic Games online store down after reports of free ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ offering

A man walks past a billboard of the ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ video game in Hong Kong on Sept 17, 2013. A source close to the matter has confirmed that the game is available for free and will be officially announced by Epic once the issues on the website are fixed. — AFP

Fortnite-creator Epic Games’ digital videogame store was down on May 14 as it recorded huge traffic after reports that it was giving the premium edition of Grand Theft Auto V for free.

Users trying to get their hands on the blockbuster action-adventure title took to Twitter to complain that they could only see an error upon opening the website.

The digital store is experiencing slow loading time with the launcher crashing at times, Epic tweeted earlier on Thursday, adding that it was working on fixing the issues.

A source close to the matter has confirmed that the game is available for free and will be officially announced by Epic once the issues on the website are fixed.

A verified account of Nvidia’s GeForce also tweeted about Epic’s free offering. Grand Theft Auto V uses Nvidia Corp’s GeForce graphic cards to power its high resolution graphics.

Developed by Rockstar Games in 2013, a unit of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, GTA V is still one of the best-selling games so far this year, according to research firm NPD. – Reuters