Back in October, we announced we were bringing the distribution power of Games on Demand to the Web with the Games for Windows Marketplace. The Games for Windows Marketplace is streamlined to provide an easy way for PC gamers to discover, buy, and download their favorite games.
Anyone can browse the marketplace, but to buy and download all you need to do is sign in with your Windows Live ID. The Games for Windows Marketplace integrates with Xbox LIVE so if someone signs in with the same Windows Live ID they use for Xbox LIVE, the Games for Windows Marketplace will display their Gamerscore and Xbox LIVE avatar at the top right. You can see how that looks when I sign in:
The frontpage of the Games for Windows Marketplace makes it very easy to dive right in – allowing you to sort by featured games that change all the time, new releases, top downloads, LIVE-enabled games (my favorite), or all games. This is also where you’ll find “Deal of the Week” and “Daily Deal” as we’re continuing the tradition of offering hot deals for game titles through the marketplace. Today’s Daily Deal is Grand Theft Auto IV at 40% making the game only $11.99.
Buying a game is incredibly simple and easy. As you browse the Games for Windows Marketplace, you can add games to your cart. After you are done browsing for games, you then proceed with checkout where you can use either Microsoft Points you might have on your account or your VISA. Once the purchase is complete, you can then proceed to download the game. You will need the latest Games for Windows client installed as that acts as your download manager for your games. If you have it installed, it will ask you to launch the client to begin your download.
Again, with the Games for Windows Marketplace you do not need to use the client to browse the marketplace to buy and download games. Just use the site. The client has been slightly updated but acts as your download manager for your games you’ve purchased and game content. You’ll also need this client installed to take advantage of LIVE-enabled games just like before.
Today, we have over 100 game titles in the marketplace. When we announced the new Games for Windows Marketplace back in October, we revealed some of the game publishers that will be on board at launch today such as Capcom Entertainment Inc., 2K Games, Square Enix Co. Ltd. and more. However, today we are excited to also reveal that Activision is on board with titles such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. And another neat feature of the Games for Windows Marketplace is each publisher has its own special “page” for their games and also news. Here is Activision’s.
Not only will the Games for Windows Marketplace provide downloads to hot games from top third-party publishers, it will also be the home for all Microsoft Game Studios PC titles such as upcoming titles like “Age of Empires Online” and “Microsoft Flight”.
So what are you waiting for? Hit up the Games for Windows Marketplace and get your game on!