Epic Games Store has always been behind its biggest competitor - Steam for its lack of features and instability. And now, it seems that there is a bug that allows you to have access to its game even when you haven't purchased it.

This bug has been found by CCN, and was proven to be applicable to many famous games, including Borderlands 3! If you haven't heard about the game yet, you can see the trailer of the newest title in the loot-shooter franchise below:

You can share your copy with your friends!

This is not the first time that this concept appeared. Instead, many gamers have recognized that you can play some games on Steam by logging in your friend's account that has the games, launching it and then go offline. However, this method is quite excessive, and it only applies to some offline games.

But the case is much easier with this Epic Games Store's bug. Maybe I shouldn't call it a bug since it is Epic's decision to omit DRM from some of their products, but this one certainly works against them, so it should not be a feature either.

Epic Games Store Bug 1
Some games in the Epic Games Store don't have DRM

William Worrall - an author from CCN has figured out about this bug today, after opening his computer. Specifically, he opened his computer, seeing some games that he didn't own but already installed on his computer via Epic Games Store. Turns out it was installed from other accounts, and it's completely playable even when he's using his own accounts without any error messages.

You can see him testing on this security flaw here:

Explaining this bug, it's basically the same as the method above. To be more specific, you can log in to your friend's account, download the games you want to your PC and then log out. While it's very normal for every launcher/storefronts, the special case with Epic Games Store is that you are still able to play it afterward. In fact, you can even log in to your account, and still be able to play the game via the launcher!

Yup, you have read them correctly. It's basically sharing a physical copy with everyone without requiring to pay any extra amount of money. It's much easier to exploit since you won't have to go offline. Even worse for the game developer/publisher, as this works on many of their famous 'exclusive' games, including Borderlands 3.

Epic Games Store Bug 2
You can even play Borderlands 3 with this method as well

Epic still doesn't fix it yet!

Now, this situation is only viable mainly due to the lack of DRM in Epic's games, which might confuse their servers and make it mistake the purchase status of accounts. The case of Borderlands 3 is quite special, as it actually has Denuvo anti-tampering technique applied. However, it seems that this DRM technique doesn't seal the copy into the buyer's account.

This 'bug' has been reported to Epic Games, but they still haven't released any response or patch to fix this problem. The longer they left this crack open, there will be more players to take benefits of it and trying their best 'exclusive' games that Epic has spent a lot of money for.

Epic Games Store Bug 3
Quantic Dream's trilogy is coming for PC via Epic Games Store only

We're quite sure that Epic will fix this problem sooner or later, but will they be able to stop this case from happening again? If they won't deploy some new mechanics such as terminating the keys that are used to purchase the games for certain accounts, Epic Games will be the one facing the most devastating consequences.

And the last words, this exploitation is considered illegal, so we highly recommend staying away from it. Thanks CCN for the announcement!