Amazon UK takes on Steam with digital downloads for games

New service launches in the UK (just four years after the US)

Amazon UK takes on Steam with digital downloads for games

Following his expansion into the art world and then print media, Jeff Bezos continues his busiest-week-ever by launching digital downloads for games and software through Amazon UK’s website.

The site currently offers approximately 600 products with the roster of video games currently featuring Tomb Raider, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Civilization V and Mass Effect 3. Free-to-play games are also available including Second Life and Stronghold.

The launch sale for the site includes many PC games selling for under £10, including Far Cry 3 and Anno 2070.

The digital download portion of the games industry has been growing steadily for years, with total downloads across PCs, mobiles and consoles increasing by 33 per cent year on year.

In the US, for example, $14.8 billion was spent on games last year with 40 per cent of this ($5.9bn) spent on digital titles.

In the software section there’s all the expected antivirus software (Kaspersky, Norton) and work suites for word processing and image editing from Microsoft and Adobe.

Users can also purchase product codes from the site, and then use them to activate downloads from the relevant company’s site.

“Customers buying software and video games who want their products quickly can now download these products straight to their computer with the click of a button.” said Xavier Garambois, Vice-President of European Consumer Business at Amazon EU.