These days, when youre looking for the best deal on the best PC games, you have hundreds of online retailers to choose from.
These range from mainstream, dependable clients trusted by millions of customers to shady key re-sellers that make you feel like youre in the seedy underbelly of some sci-fi city.However, the way we look at it, there are just three retailers that can basically cover every need you may have.
Whether youre looking for a centralized platform where you can socialize with friends, something that focuses solely on selling you games at great prices or a site that will sell you DRM-free titles that you can play anywhere or any time weve got you covered.Plus, now that Valve has landed itself in a bit of hot water over its policy (or lack thereof) over whats allowed on its platform, we thought itd be a great time to look at the three biggest digital game distributors to find out whats best for you, the consumer.The three most important platforms to consider are Steam, GOG (or Good Old Games), and GreenManGaming.
Its incredibly rare that any game youre looking for wont find its way onto one (if not all) of these platforms.
But, thats easy which one is the best for you Well, thats what were here to decide.GreenManGaming may well be the cheapest place from which to buy PC games.DealsPerhaps the most important aspect of any online retailer is the pricing, and its complicated.
Now, while they all run seasonal sales for all the major holidays and changes in season, they all have certain aspects where they stand above the others.GreenManGaming, or GMG (seen above), sometimes appears as the cheapest place to buy games, and if youre buying any game thats relatively new, thats absolutely true.
For instance, throughout June, GMG has a discount code prominently displayed that will score you up to 25% off of any PC game.And, when it says any PC game, its true: you can score the newly-released Vampyr for just $37.49, as opposed to $49.99 elsewhere in the US.
It also runs weekly sales, but these are usually obscure indie titles, rather than games by big-name publishers making it a great place to score indie games.Just keep in mind, GreenManGaming has faced some controversy in the past for allegedly being part of the grey market an allegation the retailer has denied in a statement to PC Gamer.Steam offers deals daily, and even bigger ones during major events.When it comes to Steam, however, you likely wont save anything on a new release, due to the fact that it doesnt really need to discount any new games its the biggest and most popular of the three.
However, Steams weekly deals usually cover moderately recent and popular titles, and youll usually get a deep discount at that.
For instance, at the time of this writing, you can score the new Warhammer: Vermintide II for a cool 25% off without any moral grey areas.Thats not all, though Steam has made itself famous over the years for its gigantic seasonal sales.
About four times a year, the entire (or close to) Steam catalog will go on sale, letting you scoop up tons of games and save a boat load of cash.
The next one should be coming up here in a couple of weeks, so ready your wallet and be careful not to overspend.GOG naturally sells games at discount, being a purveyor of classic PC games.GOG stands in a league of its own, however, as its made its name by selling old games.
So, not only are most games cheaper by default, but when they have a seasonal sale, the prices really get slashed.At the time of writing, GOG is in the process of a gigantic seasonal sale not only can you score huge discounts on old favorites, but you can score free games for spending a certain amount.User experienceThis is where things get interesting.
Itd be easy to just proclaim Steam as the uncontested victor here who doesnt have Steam installed on their computerHowever, its not as simple as that.
Sure, Steam is extremely familiar to most PC gaming vets, but is it actually that straightforward to use By modern standards, Steam hasnt exactly aged gracefully its grey, blocky and eats up a ton of system resources for a program thats supposed to run in the background.The main benefit of Steam then, is that the desktop program has everything youll need to play games and stay updated on them.
Theres news, community, client-level chat tools and your game library all conveniently located in the same place.
We just wish it looked like it came from this decade.GOG's Galaxy app is 100% optional it's not required to play any of its games.GOG also has its own dedicated desktop program, Galaxy, and while its not as feature-rich as Steam, its a lot more lightweight and modern looking which is ironic for a service known as Good Old Games.And, while GOG Galaxy is a smooth, pleasant experience it has a major benefit over Steams app its 100% optional.
Instead of being a store that doubles as a DRM, GOG Galaxy bills itself as a convenient companion to your gaming experience, rather than a requirement for it.
You can just as easily buy and download your games from a web page instead.GMG, however, doesnt have its own dedicated software at all.
Instead, GMG is basically just a web marketplace where you can buy game keys to redeem on other platforms.
So, theres nothing especially unique about its interface, and GMG is easily the loser here.Steam is the clear winner when it comes to community and social features.Social and communityNow, while both GreenManGaming and GOG both offer some community features, theyre extremely limited.
GMG has game hubs and forums, with customizable user profiles, whereas GOG is more barren by not offering game hubs but it has chat.
Its immediately clear when using either of these services that community is secondary.
For some people this probably wont matter at all its all about the games, after all.However, if you do want a very robust gaming community on par with and perhaps more advanced than whats offered by the PS4 and Xbox One, youre going to have to go with Steam.Initially starting out by just offering user chat through text and voice, Steam has since expanded its community features by adding game hubs, social badges, and community events usually centered around its seasonal sales.Then, back in 2016, Steam implemented a community-wide leveling system along with trading cards that users can earn by playing their favorite games.
These levels not only allow you to feel superior to your peers, but they also allow you to customize your profile to your hearts content adding more friend slots and customization options the higher you go.
Its not perfect, but it's a unique and addictive feature that we cant get enough of.Steam is the clear winner of this contest, but it doesn't have the distant lead it once held.VerdictAt the end of the day, if you want the most features, Steam is still probably the best place to go, dubious curation aside.
The prices are decent, its packed with a thriving community and most games will force you to use it anyways, if only just as a DRM.The other platforms do have their uses, and our advice would be to use all of them periodically to get the best prices and features.
The way we do it is basically use Steam as a default, go to GMG if we need to save a couple bucks, and go to GOG if we need an older game thats not on the other services.We think thats the best way to approach the wide range of different retailers: you shouldnt stick to just one, take advantage of the myriad options available to you thats not even counting publisher-specific platforms, like EAs Origin or Ubisofts Uplay.It all boils down to what youre looking for, and whats important to you.
Go forth with this knowledge and start growing that backlog.TheIndianSubcontinent's fourth annual PC Gaming Week is officially here, celebrating our passion with in-depth and exclusive coverage of PC gaming from every angle.
Visit our PC Gaming Week 2018 page to see all of the coverage in one place.fSEpGkpLxwRJLuP9BTiFZj.jpg#