[PC Games Digital Downloads | GAME

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The Top PC Game Download Services list provides details and information on the best digital distribution services for buying and downloading. The Best Places to Buy and Rent PC Games Online in · OUR TOP TESTED PRODUCTS · Steam · replace.me · Humble Bundle · replace.me · GameFly · Xbox · Epic Games Store.

 
 

Pc game digital download store.Where to buy PC games

 
 

But where’s the best place to buy PC games? Long-time PC gamers know that there’s more to it than just signing up for a Steam account. Steam is ubiquitous and monolithic, but has disadvantages. There’s much more to come, and it’s all being made possible by Razer opens in new tab , which stepped up to support this months-long project. Thanks, Razer! Steam opens in new tab is the big dog around town.

These typically feature a huge number of games on deep discounts, including new releases. They also have a year-round rotating selection of weekly, daily, and weekend deals on a smaller number of games. What are the drawbacks? Well, Steam uses an in-house DRM that forces you to launch a game in online mode before you can play it offline, and allows third-party DRM from publishers who sell their games on Steam that may require an always-on connection.

Steam also takes a 30 percent cut of all sales. Every game you buy on Steam has an associated, one-time-use key that unlocks it for play. Steam gives out batches of keys directly to publishers and developers who can then sell them to you. Key resellers, like G2A and Kinguin, are a bit different in that they operate almost like a flea market.

If it is found that the key you bought was obtained illegally, a chargeback on a stolen card could lead to your key being revoked and the developer taking a financial hit.

The important thing to note here is the difference between a retailer and a reseller. The former, such as Fanatical opens in new tab , gets their keys directly from publishers, so there is usually no question that they are legitimate.

A reseller works with third-party keyholders and often has limited ability to determine where the keys come from. Their claim to fame is that everything on their storefront is DRM-free. Most also include PDFs of the original manuals and box art, and often the original soundtrack in a DRM-free file format, which can be even harder to find than the games themselves. Like Steam, GOG takes a 30 percent cut on sales of games not made by one of its studios. It rose to cult acclaim as a place where underground devs could post their small, experimental projects free or very cheap in a place where players looking for something new and weird could stumble upon them.

Many are free or available with a ‘name your own price’ download, and the developer can decide what percentage of sales goes to Itch. More recently, Itch. Humble opens in new tab is a storefront owned by IGN Entertainment where the author of this article sometimes writes on a freelance basis , but grew out of the Humble Bundle, a rotating grab bag of games that can be purchased together for a discounted price.

Purchasers of these bundles can also customize how much of their money goes to the developers, how much goes to Humble, and how much is donated to a few selected charities. The difference here is that 10 percent of the sale is always donated to charity, while Humble takes 15 percent.

This leaves 75 percent for the developer, which is slightly more than if you bought from Steam directly. However, many flagship franchises are only available by going through them.

EA is particularly fond of this approach. Ubisoft takes a bit of a different approach—many of its games are available for purchase on Steam or through a Steam key but require you to log into a uPlay account simultaneously to run them, which can be a bit of a hassle.

There is no separate share that goes to the storefront in these cases, since the publisher and the storefront are the same company. The Microsoft Store, which comes installed with Windows, is where you have to go to buy Microsoft-published games, unfortunately—it’s by far the worst-designed store of the lot. But at least Microsoft is now putting games that would’ve been Xbox exclusives in the past, such as Forza Horizon 4, on Windows Green Man Gaming is one of the largest key retailers meaning, as mentioned above, they obtain their codes right from the source and are not a reseller and often sells Steam keys cheaper than you could get them on Steam.

One significant difference with GMG’s model is that when a game goes on sale, the discount is taken out of its 30 percent cut first. If you buy a game for 25 percent off on Steam, Steam still takes 30 percent of the remaining amount of the sale.

GMG would only take 5 percent in that case, leaving untouched the full 70 percent cut that would normally go to the developer if the game weren’t on sale. As a key retailer, GMG is among those that have suffered from running out of keys in the past. You can expect to pay a premium for anything in good condition with the original manuals, though.

For a more detailed breakdown of some of these options, check out our comparison of PC game storefronts. Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors.

UK Edition. PC Gamer Newsletter Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. Leana Hafer. See comments.