There is an opinion that if it were not for the games from Microsoft, this service would not be a success on PC. And there is a telling case associated with it: in 2015, players who bought the shooter Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare faced the trouble of empty servers – it turned out that the version from the Microsoft Store allowed to play only with owners of the game from the same store, and since there were very few (literally a few), network lobbies were empty.

However, such cases are rather the exception than the rule: the majority of games in the MSS Store supports cross-play between different services and even platforms, so you can always find a partner for joint adventures in Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and other titles.

As for sales and bargains in the store, it is not a very common practice. Moreover, there are no regional prices here, so you have to pay, mainly, $60-$100 for games, depending on the edition, and there are no refunds for purchases. After the transfer of prices from rubles to dollars has become more complicated and replenishment of the “purse” in the Microsoft Store, but for a time opened a funny bug, with which players were able to buy games at very low prices, literally for pennies.

What do we have in the end? Not the most popular service, often with high prices and not the most convenient functionality. This is partly offset by exclusive games not available in other stores, and also the presence of Xbox Game Pass subscription, which allows for a monthly fee (about $10) to play all the new products from Microsoft, as well as many games from an extensive catalog, which includes and AAA-titles, and indie projects. The list includes such hits as Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, State of Decay 2, Imperator: Rome and many others. A good offer for those who play a lot and love games of different genres.

The post MSStore appeared first on Aegisthegame.

The name of the service is an acronym for Good Old Games. Initially, the creators of GOG planned to sell only “classic” games for Windows, adapted for modern systems, but later in the store there were more new projects, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

Like any other retailer, GOG will periodically hold large game sales and giveaways. And given that the service is owned by CD Projekt, buying games in the series The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 sends all the money to the developers. GOG refunds money for games that don’t work within 30 days of purchase, but before that it will try to do everything possible to solve the problem.

What do we have in the end? GOG is a good store where you can buy a classic game and be almost 100% sure that it will work on modern computers. This is the most user-friendly service from one of the most player-friendly companies in the industry.

The post GOG appeared first on Aegisthegame.

Since then Origin has quietly existed on the PC market without competing with Steam. The store sells games published by Electronic Arts, as well as projects from other publishers. As for the convenience of the client, there are social features like a friends list and chat, cloud saves, and auto-update games, but the service still falls short of Steam in terms of their number (forget about adding one-click mods and decorating your profile).

OriginGames on Origin can get good discounts in two or three months after release
However, its main task – to sell games and provide online component – Origin fulfills its main task. You can pay for purchases using popular payment systems, and for users from different parts of the world there are regional prices (although in recent years there has been a tendency to increase them). In addition, EA regularly conducts sales and free game giveaways. You can get your money back for the game within 14 days of purchase or 24 hours after the first launch.

Finally, the last distinctive feature of the service is the Origin Access and Origin Access Premier subscriptions. These allow you to play all of EA’s new games, as well as many games from the Origin catalog, for a monthly fee. The advantage of a subscription (for the frequent gamer) is that its annual price does not exceed the cost of two or three AAA-projects, but it gives access to a very impressive library of titles, and often even allows you to launch new items a few days before the official release date.

In 2019-2020, Electronic Arts adopted a new tactic: the publisher’s games stopped being Origin exclusives, and gradually moved first to Steam, and then to the Epic Games Store.

Previously the new FIFA, Battlefield, Need for Speed games you could buy only in EA store, but now the list of services where they are available is much wider. This initiative has given a nice boost forgotten Electronic Arts multiplayer games – for example, the shooter Titanfall 2, which is literally at the moment of release on Steam broke into the top sales.

However, users still have to link accounts in third-party stores to Origin. A small price to pay for the opportunity to add games like Dragon Age Inquisition or Mass Effect Andromeda to your Steam library, but a small residue remains.

The post Origin appeared first on Aegisthegame.

In 2020, Epic Games launched a campaign to give away free games. This move attracted a huge number of new customers to the Epic Games Store and Epic Games Launcher platform. Now the number of registered users on PC is more than 110 million. This means that Epic Games has overtaken Steam.

During the year, Epic Games Store users 75 games about 200 million times and received more than $23 million in gift coupons and discounts.

The most popular games on the service were Cyberpunk, Red Dead Redemption 2, Fortnite, Satisfactory, Anno 1800, World War Z, Untitled Goose Game, The Division 2, Control, Borderlands 3, Metro Exodus, The Outer Worlds.

The store is available as a website and through the Epic Games Launcher app. It does not currently have features such as achievements or virtual reality headset support.

Epic Games’ own games will be available exclusively through this store, and the company plans to fund releases only through their store, using revenue guarantees for developers who choose these terms, with Epic paying the difference if the game fails to meet revenue expectations.

To promote their own store, Epic Games ran a promotion offering one or more free games per week starting in 2018.

Eventually, the storefront will offer user reviews, but developers will include this feature to avoid misuse of actions such as review-bombing[2]. Additional planned features include cloud saving and achievements; however, Epic Games has no plans to add any “in-game features” like Steam cards designed to drive sales.

Where possible, Epic Games plans to expand its “Creator Support” program, launched in Fortnite Battle Royale, to other games offered in the store. Players will be able to support a streamer or content creator chosen by the company based on submitted apps. Supported creators will be able to earn revenue from microtransactions made through the Epic Games Store from players who support them, incentivizing content creators. In Fortnite, creators received about 5% of the value of microtransactions.

The post Epic Games Store appeared first on Aegisthegame.

It all started way back in 1994, but the form and look like a modern Battle.net found only in 2009. Gaming platform Battlenet has become fast, smart and convenient. Now the number of registered users is measured in millions.

When a user signs up for Battlenet, they are automatically signed in to all Blizzard products. Very useful. Online games on Battlenet number in the hundreds. The three pillars on which this game distribution service holds up are World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. Installed blizzard games are updated automatically, even when you’re not online. Of the pluses is the synchronization of game progress for all products, which is convenient when playing from different devices.

How to download Battle.net
You can download Battle.net from shop.battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s official website, and individual game sites (World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch, etc.).

In general, the download link is in the footer of these sites.

How to join Battle.net
Registering for Battle.net has several steps. First you will need to specify your country of residence and age. You may need to pass the captcha. The next step will be to enter your first and last name. It is better to specify the real ones, as they are not displayed to other users, but may be used to verify your identity when contacting customer support.

At the next step, you will be asked to enter your email address and mobile number. The second field is not required, but it will help protect the account. The next step is to accept the terms of service. Next, you will need to set a password.

After registration, do not forget to confirm your email. An e-mail will be sent to your specified address, and there will be a link to go to.

Blizzard games on Battle.net
As of July 2021, there are 16 games available on Battle.net. 11 of them are from Blizzard. Visit the client’s “All Games” tab for a list of them.

• World of Warcraft (you can buy a subscription or download a free trial version where you can level up to level 20);
• World of Warcraft: Classic (you only need to have a subscription to WoW to access it);
• Hearthstone (free);
• Heroes of the Storm (free);
• The Spectator;
• Diablo III (Canvas);
• Diablo II: Resurrected (pre-order);
• StarCraft (free);
• StarCraft: Remastered (canvas);
• StarCraft II (free);
• Warcraft III: Reforged (canvas).

A set of classic Blizzard Arcade Collection games is also on sale.

The post Blizzard Battle.net appeared first on Aegisthegame.

Stem game distribution service is an industry pioneer, 6 years ahead of other platforms. The largest gaming community uniting developers and players. Record number of users on the platform at the same time was fixed in 2020 – more than 21 million people at the same time. On average, more than 47 million players connect to Steam every day and 90 million monthly.

It’s a very convenient platform with a huge number of services and features. Steam Discussions is a gamer’s chat room, Steam Library is a game library, Steam Support is constant technical support, Steamworks is a developer partners platform, Steam Workshop is advice from experienced players, Steam Community is a gaming community, Steam Direct is a sandbox for indie developers.

Buying games in Steam is not an easy task, because the choice is just huge. Besides, Steam offers online games for free or at a very low price. And of course, all long-awaited news of the game world Steam offers first. After more than 16 years of work, through ups and downs, Steam is still the best game distribution service.

Features, pros and cons of the platform

In recent years, the functionality of Steam has grown to such an extent that even the developer probably can’t say which of its functions is the main one. Its users are provided with the following features:

• play on any supported device;
• Buy content at 50-75% discounts and play paid games for free, and such promotions take place almost constantly;
• install game updates on a priority basis – the platform does it automatically;
• not to think about the safety of game data – Stim takes care of that too;
• create and save backups of game distributions;
• activate supported games which were purchased in boxed versions;
• buy games as a gift for other users;
• get a refund if you do not like the game (the game can be used up to 14 days after purchase provided the game has been run for no longer than 2 hours);
• create personal pages and groups, join communities;
• find like-minded people and friends;
• exchange messages and chat in the built-in voice chat;
• share your achievements;
• exchange, buy, and sell in-game items such as inventory, cards, and more;
• take screenshots and shoot video, post videos on YouTune;
• Record and broadcast streamers without third-party programs;
• get the latest news about game world events;
• listen to music stored on the device instead of game soundtracks;
• give other users access to their game library (family access);
• customize your personal page design;
• use the developer’s technical support services.

And since Steam is an official game content store, the products that are distributed through it are 100% legal and safe.

Among the disadvantages of the service, users have attributed:

• Lack of opportunity to use means of obtaining illegal privileges over other players (cheats).
• Lack of opportunity to run pirated content.
• High risk of losing the account, and with it, the funds that are stored on the balance. Steam user accounts are very attractive for intruders and are often attacked. To prevent attacks, the platform has a built-in Steam Guard protector, but it does not guarantee complete security either.

Some people believe that it is too expensive to buy content via Steam and therefore do not use the platform. However, it provides an opportunity not only to spend, but also to earn real money. One of the ways to earn mentioned above is by selling game inventory. Also, some users manage to unofficially sell previously purchased games, and experienced gamers earn by promoting and selling the pumped accounts.

The post Steam appeared first on Aegisthegame.