Ubisoft is entering the digital games distribution market with the launch of its Uplay PC service.
The new service is poised to compete with EA’s Origin and Valve’s Steam although it is confined to Ubisoft’s own games only at the moment. In addition to selling digital games, DLC and free to play titles, Uplay PC also supports achievements, cloud saving, friend lists and chat. It also acts as a single hub for launching all Ubisoft games.
Uplay PC expands on Ubisoft’s existing Uplay online community, so the same account is used for both services. This gives the new service a considerable head start as Uplay already has 35 million registered users. For comparison, EA’s Origin has 21 million registered users a year after its launch; and the 9 years old Steam has 40 million registered users.
Uplay PC is more limited than Origin and Steam though. While both services offer third party titles, Uplay PC is limited to Ubisoft own games only. Ubisoft’s service is also tied to PC only while its competitors already support PC and Mac and expanding to Linux, Android, Facebook, and online-connected TVs.