Ubisoft to Sell Competition's Games on Uplay Store

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Ubisoft to Sell Competition's Games on Uplay Store



Ubisoft's Uplay store adds games from EA and other publishers.

In a move to bolster the strength of its digital storefront Uplay, Ubisoft is adding a slew of new titles to its library, including some from its competitors. Uplay, which has an estimated 50 million users, will soon feature games from publishers including Electronic Arts and Warner Brothers among others. The move is part of a push to strengthen Ubisoft's digital presence in the industry, something that many publishers are investing in as digital distribution of videogames continues to grow in popularity and profitability.

"We've been working on this for some time." Stephanie Perottie, Ubisoft's worldwide Uplay director said. "We've been launching our own Uplay shop, and we wanted to make sure we offer a good experience from the start so we had to work on both the technical setup and all the negotiation with partners, and we thought the time was good after the release of very strong PC titles from Ubisoft."

Besides EA and Warner Brothers the list of publishers and developers partnering with Ubisoft is considerable. The full list includes: EA, Warner Brothers, 1C Softworks, Bohemia Interactive, bitComposer Games, Encore Software, Focus Home Interactive, Freebird Games, Nordic Games, Paradox Interactive, Iceberg, Robot Entertainment, Recoil Games, Telltale Games and Torn Banner Studios. Ubisoft will also be exporting its games to EA's Origin service in the near future.

While pushing a competing publisher's goods might seem a bit odd, Perotti believes it to be necessary to fostering the health of the growing digital market which Ubisoft sees as important to its own growth. "We believe that in four to five years digital should be around 50 per cent of our business." It's a bold goal to be reaching for, and one that's likely to rub traditional physical retailers like GameStop the wrong way.

Source:<a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-02-19-ubisoft-expands-uplay-store-with-other-publishers>GamesIndustry International




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Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
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Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
 

sid

New member
Jan 22, 2013
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My big question is rather there would be shared servers between online shops, I'm okay with Uplay or Origin being online suppliers that hold a relationship similar to Gamestop and Best Buy, but if they host their own private servers and try turning pc gaming itself into a console war, then I think I'd rather pirate than give either of them my money. Good thing we have Steam, I guess.
 

Remus

Reprogrammed Spambot
Nov 24, 2012
1,698
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What's good for Steam has to be good for everyone else. Digital distribution works best when it's not restricted to one publisher, one brand. Customers like a one-stop shop for all their gaming needs, not multiple services from multiple companies.
 

Andy Shandy

Fucked if I know
Jun 7, 2010
4,797
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Does this mean that you'll be able to get Uplay unlocks and stuff on non-Ubisoft games? Because I suppose that might be kind of neat.

Also Ubisoft games will be appearing on Origin as well, not just EA on Uplay.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

(Insert witty quote here)
Sep 10, 2008
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Legion said:
Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
Same here. I thought it was just a dolled up DRM service.
 

SonOfMethuselah

New member
Oct 9, 2012
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I am, as I've said before, not much in to PC gaming, but it seems to me that if this is a model that worked with Steam, it's a model that the other online distribution services should have been considering before they launched their respective services. I mean, honestly: when people walk into a store, it's not like they expect that store to support only a single publishers' titles. Why would you think any different of digital distribution? Having a solo service for every publisher is needlessly obtuse.

Exercise your greed with some common sense, is all I'm saying.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Ed130 said:
Legion said:
Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
Same here. I thought it was just a dolled up DRM service.
It's also WAY worse than Origin. Why people didn't give it the grilling Origin got is beyond me...

Anyway, that's neat I guess. But I'd much rather have these games on GoG, so I don't have to download more "services" to just play my games.
 

Assassin Xaero

New member
Jul 23, 2008
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Legion said:
Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
I never thought about it (don't have any games that require it), but mostly all of them have stores. GFWL has a store, Gamefly has a store, Steam has a store (obviously). It makes sense now.

OT: Not a bad move. They are still making a little money while the competition gets some, instead of the competition getting it all.
 

Blunderboy

New member
Apr 26, 2011
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Legion said:
Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
Ditto. This explains why I have like three accounts with them. I kept forgetting login details.
 

Idlemessiah

Zombie Steve Irwin
Feb 22, 2009
1,050
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The whole store thing is news to me too. I thought it was just an annoying extra achievement bubble that popped up in Assassin's Creed games. Shows how much I know.

And despite this news I will probably keep using Steam since there is no possible way Uplay or Origin can even match their sale prices.
 

Pyrian

Hat Man
Legacy
Jul 8, 2011
1,399
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San Diego, CA
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US
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Male
I think it's actually a bit inappropriate for publishers to be running universal storefronts, and maybe even inappropriate for them to be running storefronts at all. Obviously it's been very successful for Valve, but shouldn't Steam spin off Valve (or vice-versa, technically, but I believe Steam is the bulk of Valve at this point)? I think game makers and game publishers would be glad to use third-party digital-distribution networks. You don't want to compete head-on with the owner of the store you're trying to sell through.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
6,651
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Wouldn't it be better if these digital distribution stores were actually websites instead of applications and you just go to their website instead of having Steam, Uplay, Origin and all the other programs installed for no fuckin' reason?
 

The Artificially Prolonged

Random Semi-Frequent Poster
Jul 15, 2008
2,755
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I guest its good competition wise that Uplay and Origin have more games available to compete with steam. Though I'm now dreading the though of a game that will ship Origin, Uplay & GFWL in ultimate cocktail of bad drm.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

(Insert witty quote here)
Sep 10, 2008
3,782
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Irridium said:
Ed130 said:
Legion said:
Uplay is a store?

I assumed it was just some irritating thing they made you sign into with their games to unlock stuff for your games you could more easily do from other means.

Seriously, I actually wasn't aware that it sold games too.
Same here. I thought it was just a dolled up DRM service.
It's also WAY worse than Origin. Why people didn't give it the grilling Origin got is beyond me...

Anyway, that's neat I guess. But I'd much rather have these games on GoG, so I don't have to download more "services" to just play my games.
It kinda slipped under the radar due to the whole Always Online debarkle they tried a little while back.
 

Crazie_Guy

New member
Mar 8, 2009
305
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Screw this. Taking a concept like Steam and giving it to a company with the DRM track record of fucking Ubisoft is like taking an axe away from a good honest lumberjack and handing it to a crazed axe murderer.
 

Twilight_guy

Sight, Sound, and Mind
Nov 24, 2008
7,131
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I'm glad to see they finally got around to doing what they were hinting at since AC2. I'm not so glad to see people who still think that Valve is a god and will never do anything bad, ever. Monopolies suck people, deal with it.