Epic Games Store error 500 explained

When the Epic Games Store experiences a surge in users, the servers can become overwhelmed. If that happens, players might see the infamous error 500 message, which alerts them that something went wrong while connecting to the store.

Why You Might Be Seeing Error 500 on Epic Games Store

Error 500 is a recurring notification on the Epic Games Store. Many players have seen the “An unexpected error has occurred” message appear when trying to use the service. This error is completely on Epic’s end, meaning there’s nothing you can do to fix it yourself.

Epic has explained that this error is nothing serious. It means the store is experiencing high traffic, which results in slower load times, launcher crashes, and error 500 messages popping up. This often occurs when a popular game is free to download on the Epic Games Store.

A well-known example of this occurred in May 2020, when Grand Theft Auto 5 was offered for free on the Epic Games Store. Due to GTA 5‘s immense popularity, a large number of players rushed to claim it, overwhelming Epic’s servers.

While you can’t resolve the issue on your own, you can monitor the Epic Incident Report page to find out when the error is resolved. It’s also a good idea to check Epic’s Twitter account. When error 500 or any other issue affects a large number of players, it’s not unusual for the Epic team to make a post about the situation. They might even provide an estimate of when the service will be back to normal.

You can also keep refreshing your browser every now and then to see if you slip by the error code and gain access to the service. After all, since the issue is on Epic’s side, it’s only temporary, and there’s a chance you just got caught in an isolated surge of logins.