Software List

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STEAM
The most popular marketplace for games on PC.  They have plenty of features that enable offline play, friend interactions. There even exists an economy within Steam with their programs such as the steam marketplace. This isn’t necessarily just a store, it’s basically an entire social network. One could go way more in depth on the various aspects of steam but that’s for a later blog. With an intricate review system and lenient refund policies, Steam is treated as a necessary download
Beware of certain sites selling you steam keys, as they might be stolen. Good deals for legit steam keys that I have used can be found at sites such as
Greenmangaming
Fanatical
Humble Bundle - Beware that for ubisoft games, they aren’t ubisoft steam keys, rather ubisoft uplay keys.
		You can look more into steam at steamdb.info

EPIC games Store
The publisher of Fortnite and the underrepresented Unreal Engine making a major investment to cement their place in the gaming industry. Epic takes just a 12 percent cut from developers publishing games compared to Steam’s 30 percent. This is treated as the next rival to steam and something that can take the gaming industry by storm.

Battle.net
Activision/Blizzard’s client that is the primary place to play OVERWATCH, WOW and Call of Duty, nothing much to say about this client.

UPLAY
Ubisoft, not wanting to miss out on this DRM hype train, releases the UPLAY client to as a necessary connection to play Ubisoft games such as R6 and Assassin’s creed. This usually runs in the background pretty smoothly, but is prone to occasional hiccups and crashes.

Origin
The microtransaction moguls of the gaming world release their own platform to sell more DLC. EA’s take on DRM has actually in my experience offered a good, non-invasive program with a strong community (EA’s version of Steam’s Workshop). The only concerns for me is the established reputation of EA.

LOL client.
Just to play League. privacy-respecting and smooth, not much else.

GOG
A non DRM store that is basically a revolution to this whole DRM idea. The games they sell are direct downloads and contradict the idea of needing a connection to play games. This is received very positively by the gaming community but concerns arise over piracy.

Windows Store
Only available on Windows 10, the main advantage of this store is the ability to easily play cross platform between XBOX and Windows 10. This is sort of like an app store that some people feel slows down their gaming experience.

Social Club
Rockstar’s take on DRM used to play mainly just GTA V. This might be the reason for slow load times.

Bethesda.net
Pretty widely disliked,  not recommended to use.

Where to get paid games for free(non pirated)
Google - Google’s programs such as stadia or stream occasionally give people free copies of large triple A publisher games
Indie gala - small “indie” games, some aren’t even playable
r/freegamesonsteam - most aren’t playable, just to make your steam library larger
r/gamedeals - good free games deals are posted on here.

Other software commonly used include programs for communication and streaming.

Communication
Discord- The best free service due to vast customization and server stability.
TeamSpeak
Skype
Google Hangouts

Streaming
Streamlabs OBS - This OBS skin provides the best features in my opinion, donation integration and custom themes already present.
OBS (Open broadcasting service) - This is for the more traditional streamer who desires complete customization
Fraps - Performance friendly recording