Uplay vs. Steam: game tools compared

If you buy PC games online, you can't avoid Steam. But Uplay is also a big player in the video game download market. We compare the tools for you.

Steam vs. Uplay: This is what Valve's "Steam" has to offer

Steam was developed by Valve, the brain behind hit games like Half-life, Portal and DotA 2, and was originally just a multiplayer platform. From this, however, a gigantic platform has developed over the years.

• Steam is the bedrock of download platforms and offers more games than any competitor; it is a mixture of almost all major AAA titles and countless indie titles.
• The service is also very popular, as regular - and increasingly frequent - weeks of discount campaigns run with large community events. During this time, even large titles are often massively reduced. Many games are temporarily available for one euro or less.
• At the same time, Steam acts as a copy protection for many game manufacturers because the games are registered in the accounts. At least download games can now be returned.
• Steam is also a social network that offers forums for many games - often together with the developers - as well as groups, chats, player profiles and many other typical features.
• Above all, the masses of achievements that can be collected here and the comparatively young trading cards are very popular.
• With Steam Greenlight, Steam users themselves decide which indie games will be offered on the platform in the future and thus interact directly with the developers.
• Valve is also working to offer more and more games via the Steam client for Mac OS and Linux.
• Steam games can be brought to your own and other TVs via the big picture mode and streaming.
• Ubisoft games are also available on Steam, however, you have to start UPlay in addition to Steam to play.
• However, Steam's customer service reputation is rather poor. The answers often take a long time, are not always helpful and customer friendliness and the possibility of reimbursement first had to be sued for.

Uplay and Steam in comparison: Ubisoft's own brand

Uplay comes from Ubisoft, which is best known for brands like Assassin's Creed. It was created as part of the wave of new download / DRM platforms and has since served as Ubisoft's own market.

• You can also buy Ubisoft games from other players at Uplay. However, the selection is still manageable - albeit growing.
• Uplay is used as copy protection for all Ubisoft games and also on the various consoles. You only need an account for this.
• The Ubisoft DRM was criticized for a long time because it was considered too invasive. That has now improved.
• In the same breath, Ubisoft has also demanded that gamers are always online to play, which has caused resentment, particularly due to massive server problems to release new hype games. This should also no longer occur in the future.
• Uplay offers fewer community and convenience features than Steam does, but has a reduced achievement system.
• Unlike on Steam, small things can be bought in the Uplay shop with the Uplay achievements or more precisely the points they bring.
• Ubisoft's support doesn't impress with its quality either.

Uplay versus steam: conclusion

• Steam is more extensive than Uplay in almost all respects, even if the platform could learn little things from Uplay - such as dealing with achievements.
• If you don't just or almost only play Ubisoft games anyway and thus have to install Uplay and usually run them, the platform is not worth it as a steam replacement.
• The offers, the new input via Greenlight and the much larger and more diverse community clearly score points for Steam. But it's worth keeping an eye on Uplay.
• Since both platforms are free, it doesn't hurt to test them both.

If you don't know what to play on Steam now, we have a few recommendations for you next: These top games are available for free on Steam.