Putting third-party games in the Uplay Shop, said Early, "lets acquire the games they want to play and still be a part of Uplay when they do that."Ĭurrently, Uplay clients are available on PC and Wii U. "as long as you're buying Assassin's Creed somewhere, I'm happy" When we asked why Ubisoft decided to put its games on Origin, Early reiterated his explanation of giving customers choice, then acknowledged that a service like Valve's Steam has a significant number of "consumers are very loyal to it."Įarly added, "If you prefer Steam, if you prefer Origin, that's fine - as long as you're buying Assassin's Creed somewhere, I'm happy." Selling other companies' games through the Uplay Shop also offers more options to consumers, and it allows Ubisoft to grow the service's user base while keeping people in the Uplay ecosystem. Early explained that putting a game on Uplay takes some doing, but isn't a complex undertaking - "it's work, but it's not rocket science," he said. The same applies for third-party games on Uplay. On the Origin side, Ubisoft has now made games like Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 available through EA's online store, and according to Early, more of the publisher's back catalog will gradually make its way there. "Over the last year, we've made a number of technological improvements in the Uplay client on the PC," he explained, saying that those changes paved the way for the sale of third-party games.
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Going forward, said Early, third-party titles "will be releasing at the same time, day and date, as all the other digital channels." And from today through March 4, anybody who buys a digital PC game that's at least $19.90 will receive a free downloadable copy of Driver: San Francisco Deluxe Edition, From Dust, Might & Magic Heroes 6 Deluxe Edition, Rayman Origins, The Settlers 7 Gold Edition or World in Conflict: Complete Edition.Įarly told us that Ubisoft had to do a lot of engineering work, outside of arranging the distribution agreements themselves, to make this happen. Uplay customers can pre-order third-party games through the Shop, too, such as the Limited Edition of EA's upcoming SimCity. Uplay's 50 million users now have more options According to a Ubisoft spokesperson, "Ubisoft is following the revenue sharing with the publishers," which likely means the company will take a 30 percent cut of all Uplay Shop sales.
Titles from smaller publishers and independent studios, such as Paradox Interactive ( Crusader Kings 2) and Robot Entertainment ( Orcs Must Die! 2), respectively, are also available in the Uplay Shop. Interactive Entertainment (the Game of the Year Edition of Batman: Arkham City) and Telltale Games ( The Walking Dead). According to Early, the Shop's opening slate of third-party titles consists of about 25 games from "maybe a dozen or so " such as Electronic Arts ( Dead Space 3), Warner Bros. The service's online storefront, the Uplay Shop, has only sold Ubisoft-published games to this point.
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Ubisoft later added a Steam-like Uplay client for Windows PC. Uplay also consists of Uplay Share, which lets players share user-generated content with others from within games, and Uplay Help, which offers game guides and tips. The main part of the service, Uplay Win, gives players reward points called Uplay Units for completing in-game actions those points are then used to purchase digital bonus content such as extra missions and weapons. Ubisoft launched Uplay in late 2009 alongside Assassin's Creed 2.
Ubisoft is beginning a major expansion of its digital distribution presence today: The company is now selling games from other studios and publishers through the Uplay Shop, its online store, and has also begun selling its own games through Electronic Arts' competing service, Origin.Ĭhris Early, Ubisoft's vice president of digital publishing, told Polygon in a recent phone interview that the simultaneous moves are being made with one principal goal: to give Uplay's 50 million users more options for buying and playing Ubisoft games.