Top 10 Online Video Game Platforms to Buy and Download PC Games in 2024 (Free & Paid)

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7 Best Places To Buy PC Games Online 

#1.         Steam

Steam is considered to be the largest digital distribution platform in the world of computer games. 

Steam have over 40,000 games with over 132 million monthly active users. Therefore, you are sure to find your favorite games here!

The Steam client includes a digital storefront called the Steam Store through which users can purchase computer games. Once the game is bought, a software license is permanently attached to the user's Steam account, allowing them to download the software on any compatible device. Game licenses can be given to other accounts under certain conditions. 

Steam also provides the user with automatic game updating, saved game cloud synchronization, and community features such as friends messaging, in-game chat and a community market.

The Steam store also enables users to redeem store product keys to add software from their library. The keys are sold by third-party providers such as Humble Bundle.

Steam offers various features, like digital rights management (DRM), game server matchmaking and anti-cheat measures, and social networking and game streaming services. 

Does Steam offer free games?

This website is one of the biggest names in the business. As a side perk, you will find free games to play on stream, take for instance, shooters, puzzle titles, action games, casual games, adventure games, RPGs, and early access titles.

But you will have to filter through the free-to-play and fake-free games to get to the gems (since you can only sort by free-to-play). A Steam account is needed, but signing up for it is free. 

Visit Steam

#2.         Humble Bundle

—— Best Bundle Discount Store

Humble Bundle is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser. What distinguishes the company from other official game sellers is that a portion of the income from its bundles goes to charity, as well as to game developers. 

Subsequently, the bundles became more frequent and expanded to include games from established developers, AAA publishers, games for Android-based devices, bundles promoting game jams, and bundles featuring digital copies of music, books and comic books. 

The Humble Bundle operation has since grown to include a dedicated storefront, the Humble Store, and a publishing arm, Humble Games, to support indie games. 

Humble Bundle and its Humble Store both offer DRM-free games and DRM titles.

Find your next indie obsession in the Humble Games Collection, an ever-expanding library of Humble Games titles you can access while you’re an active Humble Choice member.

The Humble Games Collection includes critical hits and community favorites like UNSIGHTED, Wizard of Legend, Forager, Dodgeball Academia, and Void Bastards—with new content added monthly.

Humble Choice members can also download more than 50 classic DRM-free bonus games in the Humble app. Replay old favorites, unearth experimental oddities, and get lost in an archive full of indie treasures.

Humble Choice lets you play the best of Humble every month for only $11.99 (USD) per month. Is there a catch? Yup, it’s that you get to own these games, instead of “borrowing” them from the subscription’s library. Moreover, you get a Humble Store discount that can reach up to 20% with the subscription! 

Humble Bundle definitely lives up to its name by offering incredibly great deals to everyone.

Does Humble Bundle offer free games?

Just like other distributors use free to play games to promote other goods and services, so do Humble store free games. Most of the time these freebies would appear around the time of a major sale on Humble Store and are done so to promote as well as bring awareness to their large sales.

Like they say:

To thank all of our awesome customers for supporting us, sometimes we will be offering a free game via Steam key for a limited time! 

Visit Humble Bundle

• Rebates : Don't forget to get an extra 4% cash back at Humble Bundle!

#3.         Good Old Games (GOG) 

—— best DRM-free game store

One of the best gaming marketplaces after Steam is GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games).

GOG is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. The offered digital goods can be purchased and downloaded online and they are distributed without digital rights management.

GOG.com works to offer older games as well as new releases to users, along with special offers in sales held several times a week. 

GOG.com's digital products can also be given to other persons via redeemable gift certificates.

In addition to all titles being DRM-free to give consumers the ability to install the game anywhere and as many times as they want, it is a very good platform to buy affordable games and you can download GOG galaxy to manage your game library, help in support forums, roll out patches and bug fixes for the game. 

Another advantage is the fact there’s only a single price for most of the titles that they offer. This means there is no one price for Europe, different price for North America, etc. All get the same price without injustice of $1=1€.

Along with the games, customers are also able to download numerous extra materials relating to the game they purchased. Often these extras include the game's soundtrack (partly as FLAC), wallpapers, avatars, and manuals. GOG.com also offers full customer support for all purchases and a money-back guarantee for the first 30 days.

Most of GOG’s library are older titles, although they are improving their selections of indie games, newer releases, etc. Keep in mind before going for the deal is that it may not have a large collection of games that you are used to in Steam.

Does GOG offer free games?

Yes, they offer. 

You can get games like ULTIMA 4: QUEST OF THE AVATAR, BENEATH A STEEL SKY, and SHADOW WARRIOR CLASSIC COMPLETE for free. Game demos of the latest games are also available. 

All you need is a GOG account; registration is free. 

Occasionally, they do offer free games for a limited time, so keep an eye out.

Visit Good Old Games

#4.         Epic Games Store

—— best Steam alternative

Epic Games Store has emerged in recent years as a major contender for the title of best game download store.

Epic Games is known for games such as ZZT developed by founder Tim Sweeney, various shareware titles including Jazz Jackrabbit and Epic Pinball, the Unreal video game series, which is used as a showcase for its Unreal Engine, the Gears of War series which is now owned by The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios, Infinity Blade, Shadow Complex, Bulletstorm, and Fortnite.

Epic entered the distribution market after the success of Fortnite, which Epic distributed by their own channels to users on Windows and macOS system rather than other storefronts.

Like Valve, Epic Games both produces its own games and sells titles published by other companies. 

The Epic Games Store is a storefront for games available via the web and built into Epic Games' launcher application. Both web and application allow players to purchase games, while through the launcher the player can install and keep their games up to date.

One of the biggest and most notable differences between Valve’s Steam and the new Epic Games Store is that the latter does not include game reviews. When users of the newly launched Epic Games store go to a game page, they won’t see any reviews from other users, but that could be about to change.

Also, many games on the Epic Games Store are cheaper than Steam. However, its game library is not as large as Steam!

Visit Epic Games Store

#5.         Origin

Origin is a digital distribution platform developed by Electronic Arts for purchasing and playing video games. 

It contains all the games released and developed by EA. EA is one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, responsible for such titles as FIFA, Madden, and Mass Effect. 

It also has other games but they are quite limited. There are now titles from Warner Bros., Ubisoft, Capcom, Square Enix, and other developers and game publishers available.

Origin contains social features such as profile management, networking with friends with chat and direct game joining along with an in-game overlay, streaming via Twitch and sharing of game library and community integration with networking sites like Facebook, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Network.

However, recent news states that EA is going to shut down Origin and they are releasing a new desktop client for the EA Play service in the future. Don’t worry, games bought through this channel will always remain the same.

It has a $5/month and a $30/year subscription service. The subscription gives you access to the EA vault where you are free to play about a 100 games until your subscription runs out. Subscribed users can get beta access to try your hands on unreleased EA games before reaching the public.

Users may also add certain EA games to their Origin account by using CD keys from retail copies, and digital copies obtained from other digital distribution services.

Origin has nestled its way among top Stream alternatives because of its features.

Does Origin offer free games?

Yes. It doesn't have too many free-to-play games, but there are still some good titles here.

Visit Origin

#6.         Microsoft Store

Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform owned by Microsoft. 

It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps.

With Windows 10, Microsoft merged its other distribution platforms (Windows Marketplace, Windows Phone Store, Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Xbox Store, and a web storefront also known as "Microsoft Store") into Microsoft Store, making it a unified distribution point for apps, console games, and digital videos. 

In 2021, 669,000 apps were available in the store. As with other similar platforms, such as the Google Play and Mac App Store, Microsoft Store is curated, and apps must be certified for compatibility and content. 

Microsoft store is not a good fit for installing apps but if you are a gamer and are looking for some of the best PC games then you can not go wrong with Microsoft Store.

Well, many game lovers are bitter towards Microsoft Store as some classic and top-notch games like Forza Horizon 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are just available at Microsoft Store and not accessible on any other gaming platform. 

Visit Microsoft Store

#7.         Ubisoft Connect (formerly Uplay) 

Ubisoft Connect (formerly Uplay) is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications service developed by Ubisoft to provide an experience similar to the achievements/trophies offered by various other game companies.

On Oct. 29, 2020, Uplay and Ubisoft Club became the more centralized "Ubisoft Connect," a platform for streaming Ubisoft games, interacting with friends, and redeeming rewards. 

The service is provided for multiple platforms like PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, iOS, Windows Phone, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Android, and more. 

The Ubisoft Connect client on Windows computers also serves as a storefront and digital download management tool. Players can purchase Ubisoft games through its storefront and manage downloads and updates of games. 

The client also maintains digital rights management (DRM) for Ubisoft games, and is required to be run for any Ubisoft game, even if the game is purchased on a different storefront such as through Steam or the Epic Games Store.

An optional subscription service, Ubisoft+ (formerly Uplay+), allows subscribers to have access to Ubisoft's full library of games as well as immediate access to its newest games and closed beta tests for upcoming games.

Visit Ubisoft Connect

#8.         Itch.io —— best indie game store

Itch.io is a website for users to host, sell and download indie games. 

Steam is lacking Indie games very badly and many gamers can not get their hands on the best Indie games, so if you are one such indie game starved player then Itch.io is the right destination for you to check out this instance.

This digital game store includes great tools for both buyers and sellers. 

As a seller, it gives you full control, whether it is setting a price, running the sales or designing the pages related to the game. Itch.io is said to be the collection of different, interesting creations by different publishers and developers. 

The developer can set the lowest price for the game (including free), and the customer can pay above that minimum amount if they like the game they are purchasing.

Itch.io also supports pre-orders, creating early-access content, selling rewards, bundling your content, and more.

With over 500,000 games listed (in March 2024), of which 95% of them are free, you have to really trawl through them for the gems that interest you. Other than Windows, you can filter the games for macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, or even just web browsers.

Itch.io is a very good alternative for Steam if you want to try out some indie titles and explore new games from less known developers. After all, this indie game store always hosts some of the weirdest, creepiest, funniest, and other -est games you can imagine (or not imagine). 

Does Itch.io offer free games?

Yes, like just mentioned! 

Itch.io hosts a ton of games from developers who might just want to get publicity and improve their game developing skills, and they set the games to be free. Users can also download them for free.

No account is needed. You can donate to the developers, but games will remain free even if you don’t. Other than games, itch.io also sells books, comics, physical games, game assets, and a bit of everything else.

Visit itch.io

#9.         Battle.net 

Battle.net is an Internet-based online game, social networking service, digital distribution, and digital rights management platform developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The service was launched on December 31, 1996, followed a few days later with the release of Blizzard's action-role-playing video game Diablo on January 3, 1997. 

The platform has its own proprietary launcher, it is a mediator between gamers and Activision and blizzard studios games. You can find any game of both the studios. It currently supports storefront actions, social interactions, and matchmaking for all of Blizzard's modern PC games including Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and StarCraft: Remastered, as well as various Call of Duty games, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time from corporate sibling of Blizzard Entertainment, Activision. 

Does Battle.net offer free games?

Blizzard Entertainment has a small collection of popular franchises, including Diablo, Overwatch, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft, which can all be played through the Battle.net gaming platform. 

Since most of these games are free to play, they can be downloaded anytime from its official website, Battle.net.

Visit Battle.net

#10.         Green Man Gaming

Unlike the other platforms recommended above, Green Man Gaming is one of the best known sites for game keys.

There’s no dedicated client, so you will download any purchases you make through Steam, Origin, Uplay or another platform. 

So if you're wondering where is the best place to buy game keys? It's Green Man Gaming! It's cheap, well stocked, easy to browse, and safe to use.

First of all, no worries about scams here, as Green Man Gaming is an official retailer, so all games listed on it come directly from publishers and developers. 

Steam games dominate the available products on Green Man Gaming, but there is also a decent selection of games for Epic and Ubisoft’s Uplay, amongst others. 

It has a huge database of over 6600 games from more than 600 publishers. It includes many popular game titles but most of them are AAA games. All the games it offers are compatible with various platforms like PC, Mac, PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, etc.

Along with games you can also purchase gift cards for your family and friends. Other items such as soundtracks, art books, season passes, game currencies and more can be bought here. 

Secondly, Steam veterans will appreciate the store’s Hot Deals, which offer much deeper discounts up to 95% on popular games such as Fall of Light, Zombies On A Plane, Black Hole, Infinium Strike, etc.

We also recommend that you check out their Coming Soon section, which is always filled with delicious deals for the newest games and pre-purchases that are hard to say no to, and you are not likely to find such offers on other platforms. Low pricing is almost always its strength in the field!

Green Man Gaming is among the most sought-after brands when it comes to coupons and discount offers, with hundreds of thousands of searches for coupons each month, and you can also get its up to 5% extra cash back through extrabux.

Thirdly, Green Man Gaming has been in business for over 10 years, and their service is great. This is also evidenced by the tens of thousands of positive reviews on Trustpilot.

Their customer support team is also available 24/7 for you. It also offers a standard refund period. The store gives you the chance to get your money back within seven days of purchase, as long as you haven’t downloaded the game or revealed the key on the GMG website. However, the store’s refund policy also states that you may get 14 days instead if you live in the European Union. This is in line with the territory’s Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

The site’s layout is very clean and is easy to browse. They show costs and prices in your own local currency so you can get a better idea of the Price you are getting the game for. As for payments they support most of the Debit/Credit Cards along with PayPal. PayPal, Apple Pay, Discover, SoFort Banking, PaySafeCard, Mastercard, Visa, Union Pay, Ali Pay, etc.

It is overall a trustworthy store that works with Valve, Ubisoft, Capcom, Bethesda and more companies to offer you games at cheaper prices, and thus is well worth checking out! 

Visit Green Man Gaming 

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