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major digital distributors of PC games: a summary
Just a summary.
Bundle-in-a-Box
A UK-based bundle distributor. Bundles are rare, and generally mostly feature indie games, plus some other goodies like soundtracks or associated e-books. Bundles here have a minimum price with pay-want-you-want. They have offered Desura and Steam keys in the past.
Advantages: bundles
Disadvantages: rarely available
Daily Royale
An Australia-based distributor, and an offshoot of Indie Royale. They sell limited quantities of games, in the form of Steam or Desura keys, at discounted prices.
Advantages: nothing in particular
Disadvantages: limited-quantity sales
Desura
An Australia-based distributor. Their store mostly sells indie games, where you can get them long before they hit bigger distributors like Steam. Desura is often used by indie devs as a smaller springboard to build a fanbase before launching into Steam, and sometimes you can get Steam keys via Desura purchases. They don't have regular sales events, though, so you need to price-track what games you want to buy by yourself. They also have a client, though it is a little unintuitive to use. The client does not apply DRM, and the site is DRM-agnostic - but most of its offerings are DRM-free. They help run the Indie Royale bundle, and are also associated with IndieDB.
Advantages: lots of indie games - before they even strike it big
Disadvantages: no seasonal sales events, client a little unwieldy(though optional)
Direct2Drive
I know almost nothing about this distributor, other than that they existed at one point in time. Not sure if they're still around.
Gala Store
An Italy-based distributor (though their sales center seems to be in the US or UK), and an offshoot of Indie Gala. Generally sells Steam and Desura keys, I think. Not sure how sales are organized or timed. Gala Points acquired by buying Indie Gala bundles are redeemable here for discounts.
Advantages: obscure indie games, the only place where Gala Points are useful
Disadvantages: nothing in particular, except looking a little off when they have typos
Game Music Bundle
A US-based bundle distributor, which only sells game music. Generally sells a few albums at $1, and a much larger number of albums at $10. Bundles are infrequent. Albums generally come from various indie games (among the selections included have been Guacamelee, Kentucky Route Zero, Starbound, Mighty Switch Force, Aquaria, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure (old DOS game), Potatoman Seeks the Troof, Myst, etc.. Formerly hosted by BundleDragon, but now hosted by Loudr.fm.
Advantages: tons of game music
Disadvantages: only has game music?
GamersGate
A Sweden-based distributor. Sells a variety of publisher-backed and indie games. Does not use a client - aside from a downloader used to install a game, the company is DRM-agnostic, and will explicitly specify whether the game has a DRM, and what kind. Organizes its own sales events and promotions. Gives automatic 5% store credit bonus for buying from them (in the form of "Blue Coins"), with more available if you help other people with their questions on games ("GameTutor" feature), though I have not yet used these so I can't say exactly how they work. Also gives out their own in-store coupons. Sometimes sells Steam keys alone, but occasionally sells combined DRM-free + Steam key (though this isn't always stated clearly).
Advantages: bonus points, discounts, specifies DRM explictly
Disadvantages: nothing in particular
Green Man Gaming
I don't know much about this distributor, but I've heard they sell Steam keys. I've never purchased from them before.
Groupees
A US-based (Oregon) bundle distributor. Originally known for their music sales for charity, they later expanded to game bundles as well. Their characteristic bundle style is to add bonus items to a bundle based on the number of sales of a bundle - and they will often have multiple bonus goals to encourage sales. They also innovated the "build a bundle" - where customers can choose some subset of items in a bundle and only pay for those. All bundles are "pay what you want" but with a minimum price; build-a-bundles' minimum depends on how many selections were made; a portion of the revenue - as chosen by customers - may also go to a charitable cause. Their game bundles often also contain some music, and sometimes other works such as e-books. The games that appear in Groupees' bundles are mostly indie games, and usually offer Desura and Steam keys along with DRM-free instances; these bundles have been used to promote games in Steam's Greenlight program, and Greenlight games in Groupees bundles usually (but not always) provide a Steam key to purchasers who bought the game before its Steam release.
Advantages: bundles, build-a-bundles
Disadvantages:nothing in particular
GOG.com
Formerly Good Old Games, a Poland-based company (though their sales center is in Cyprus). Their store specializes in older PC games, which are maintained and patched to work on modern systems, though with the name change, they have started to carry some newer indie and publisher-backed games. They take a strong stance refusing all DRM, and provide installer and patch executables for download. They also insist on giving the entire world fair pricing, which generally means USD pricing. They are currently working on an optional client called GOG Galaxy, but for now they do not use a client. Often seen as a direct competitor to Steam, they generally do not offer Steam keys for their purchases. The GOG user community helps maintain and patch their games, and is known for their quality in getting games to work. Their seasonal sales events are a little odd, though, and usually involve limited quantities of games in a first-come-first-serve manner, making one feel cruddy about missing sales, though their "normal" discount events don't have this issue. Along with their purchases, they offer goodies, which vary with the particular game in question - these may range from just wallpapers and avatars, to digital copies of feelies that came with the game originally, to soundtracks and artbooks. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee; I think that it works by, in case you run into problems getting your game to run, they will help you make it work, and if they can't get it work, they will give you a refund.
Advantages: DRM-free, no $=£ or $=€ bullshit, various bonus extras
Disadvantages: may need to call your credit card to approve a purchase from a Cypriot company, limited-quantity sales events
Humble Bundle
A US-based bundle distributor, and probably the most famous. Pioneered the "pay what you want" system for digital game sales, and known for offering bundles whose games all work on multiple OSes (Windows, Mac, Linux, and sometimes Android), and are all DRM-free. Also known for allowing customers to choose the distribution of their funds, between participating developers, associated charities (usually Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation), and a tip to the folks running the site. Lately they have expanded a bit, creating bundles that feature games from major publishers, as well as bundles of e-books. Not all their bundles are multiplatform anymore, though their flagship bundle still is. Garners lots of sales - and rivals Steam in lucrativeness for indie developers - but these days the only indie games that appear on it tend to be ones that are already rather successful. Humble Bundles tend to feature "beat the average" (BTA) offerings - paying above a certain price gives more games (usually the more desired ones, naturally). Humble used to offer both Desura and Steam keys but now usually only offers Steam keys, and some times does not offer DRM-free either (usually for games from major publishers). Humble Weekly Bundles, a more recent bundle series, tend to replace BTA with a set target price, and may have more than one such target tiers. (Due to past abuse, the minimum price to get Steam keys, if available, is now $1.) Has occasionally offered Origin keys (such as in the Humble Origin Bundle). Nowadays, runs a few bundles concurrently.
Advantages: pay-what-you-want with low (or no) minimum (though you often end up looking at the BTA price anyway), cross-platform games (sometimes), usually DRM-free (but you should check to be sure)
Disadvantages: only famous indie games
Bundle-in-a-Box
A UK-based bundle distributor. Bundles are rare, and generally mostly feature indie games, plus some other goodies like soundtracks or associated e-books. Bundles here have a minimum price with pay-want-you-want. They have offered Desura and Steam keys in the past.
Advantages: bundles
Disadvantages: rarely available
Daily Royale
An Australia-based distributor, and an offshoot of Indie Royale. They sell limited quantities of games, in the form of Steam or Desura keys, at discounted prices.
Advantages: nothing in particular
Disadvantages: limited-quantity sales
Desura
An Australia-based distributor. Their store mostly sells indie games, where you can get them long before they hit bigger distributors like Steam. Desura is often used by indie devs as a smaller springboard to build a fanbase before launching into Steam, and sometimes you can get Steam keys via Desura purchases. They don't have regular sales events, though, so you need to price-track what games you want to buy by yourself. They also have a client, though it is a little unintuitive to use. The client does not apply DRM, and the site is DRM-agnostic - but most of its offerings are DRM-free. They help run the Indie Royale bundle, and are also associated with IndieDB.
Advantages: lots of indie games - before they even strike it big
Disadvantages: no seasonal sales events, client a little unwieldy(though optional)
Direct2Drive
I know almost nothing about this distributor, other than that they existed at one point in time. Not sure if they're still around.
Gala Store
An Italy-based distributor (though their sales center seems to be in the US or UK), and an offshoot of Indie Gala. Generally sells Steam and Desura keys, I think. Not sure how sales are organized or timed. Gala Points acquired by buying Indie Gala bundles are redeemable here for discounts.
Advantages: obscure indie games, the only place where Gala Points are useful
Disadvantages: nothing in particular, except looking a little off when they have typos
Game Music Bundle
A US-based bundle distributor, which only sells game music. Generally sells a few albums at $1, and a much larger number of albums at $10. Bundles are infrequent. Albums generally come from various indie games (among the selections included have been Guacamelee, Kentucky Route Zero, Starbound, Mighty Switch Force, Aquaria, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure (old DOS game), Potatoman Seeks the Troof, Myst, etc.. Formerly hosted by BundleDragon, but now hosted by Loudr.fm.
Advantages: tons of game music
Disadvantages: only has game music?
GamersGate
A Sweden-based distributor. Sells a variety of publisher-backed and indie games. Does not use a client - aside from a downloader used to install a game, the company is DRM-agnostic, and will explicitly specify whether the game has a DRM, and what kind. Organizes its own sales events and promotions. Gives automatic 5% store credit bonus for buying from them (in the form of "Blue Coins"), with more available if you help other people with their questions on games ("GameTutor" feature), though I have not yet used these so I can't say exactly how they work. Also gives out their own in-store coupons. Sometimes sells Steam keys alone, but occasionally sells combined DRM-free + Steam key (though this isn't always stated clearly).
Advantages: bonus points, discounts, specifies DRM explictly
Disadvantages: nothing in particular
Green Man Gaming
I don't know much about this distributor, but I've heard they sell Steam keys. I've never purchased from them before.
Groupees
A US-based (Oregon) bundle distributor. Originally known for their music sales for charity, they later expanded to game bundles as well. Their characteristic bundle style is to add bonus items to a bundle based on the number of sales of a bundle - and they will often have multiple bonus goals to encourage sales. They also innovated the "build a bundle" - where customers can choose some subset of items in a bundle and only pay for those. All bundles are "pay what you want" but with a minimum price; build-a-bundles' minimum depends on how many selections were made; a portion of the revenue - as chosen by customers - may also go to a charitable cause. Their game bundles often also contain some music, and sometimes other works such as e-books. The games that appear in Groupees' bundles are mostly indie games, and usually offer Desura and Steam keys along with DRM-free instances; these bundles have been used to promote games in Steam's Greenlight program, and Greenlight games in Groupees bundles usually (but not always) provide a Steam key to purchasers who bought the game before its Steam release.
Advantages: bundles, build-a-bundles
Disadvantages:nothing in particular
GOG.com
Formerly Good Old Games, a Poland-based company (though their sales center is in Cyprus). Their store specializes in older PC games, which are maintained and patched to work on modern systems, though with the name change, they have started to carry some newer indie and publisher-backed games. They take a strong stance refusing all DRM, and provide installer and patch executables for download. They also insist on giving the entire world fair pricing, which generally means USD pricing. They are currently working on an optional client called GOG Galaxy, but for now they do not use a client. Often seen as a direct competitor to Steam, they generally do not offer Steam keys for their purchases. The GOG user community helps maintain and patch their games, and is known for their quality in getting games to work. Their seasonal sales events are a little odd, though, and usually involve limited quantities of games in a first-come-first-serve manner, making one feel cruddy about missing sales, though their "normal" discount events don't have this issue. Along with their purchases, they offer goodies, which vary with the particular game in question - these may range from just wallpapers and avatars, to digital copies of feelies that came with the game originally, to soundtracks and artbooks. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee; I think that it works by, in case you run into problems getting your game to run, they will help you make it work, and if they can't get it work, they will give you a refund.
Advantages: DRM-free, no $=£ or $=€ bullshit, various bonus extras
Disadvantages: may need to call your credit card to approve a purchase from a Cypriot company, limited-quantity sales events
Humble Bundle
A US-based bundle distributor, and probably the most famous. Pioneered the "pay what you want" system for digital game sales, and known for offering bundles whose games all work on multiple OSes (Windows, Mac, Linux, and sometimes Android), and are all DRM-free. Also known for allowing customers to choose the distribution of their funds, between participating developers, associated charities (usually Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation), and a tip to the folks running the site. Lately they have expanded a bit, creating bundles that feature games from major publishers, as well as bundles of e-books. Not all their bundles are multiplatform anymore, though their flagship bundle still is. Garners lots of sales - and rivals Steam in lucrativeness for indie developers - but these days the only indie games that appear on it tend to be ones that are already rather successful. Humble Bundles tend to feature "beat the average" (BTA) offerings - paying above a certain price gives more games (usually the more desired ones, naturally). Humble used to offer both Desura and Steam keys but now usually only offers Steam keys, and some times does not offer DRM-free either (usually for games from major publishers). Humble Weekly Bundles, a more recent bundle series, tend to replace BTA with a set target price, and may have more than one such target tiers. (Due to past abuse, the minimum price to get Steam keys, if available, is now $1.) Has occasionally offered Origin keys (such as in the Humble Origin Bundle). Nowadays, runs a few bundles concurrently.
Advantages: pay-what-you-want with low (or no) minimum (though you often end up looking at the BTA price anyway), cross-platform games (sometimes), usually DRM-free (but you should check to be sure)
Disadvantages: only famous indie games
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A US-based distributor, and an offshoot of Humble Bundle. Sells games individually (or occasionally also in other mini-bundles). Indie games tend to have a DRM-free option alongside a Steam key; publisher-backed games tend to only offer a Steam key. A portion (I think 10%?) of their sales revenue goes to charity, while 70% (or so I've heard) goes to the developer/publisher.
Advantages: alternate Steam key distributor (with good reputation), indie games give DRM-free + Steam key
Disadvantages: nothing in particular
Impulse
A US-based(?) distributor, which I have never used before. I think they are now basically Gamestop's digital arm.
Indie Gala
An Italy-based bundle distributor (though their sales center seems to be in US or UK). Sometimes described as a somewhat "ghetto" version of Humble Bundle - as they offer mainly the same features - pay what you want, beat the average (or various tiers), game bundles, letting customers choose funds distribution, and including a charity with the recipients - but at lower prices, for lesser-known games, and often only offering Steam keys without DRM-free copies or Desura keys (though now that Humble also does this...). That said, this isn't a bad thing - they frequently feature games that would never show up in a Humble bundle. Occasionally includes some non-indie games. Like Humble, also runs multiple bundles at once, these days. A recent new feature integrates Gala purchases with the Gala Store, by providing points for buying Gala bundles that can be redeemed at the Gala Store.
Advantages: credit redeemable at the Gala Store, lesser-known indie games
Disadvantages: usually doesn't give more than one of DRM-free, Steam key, and Desura key, for a given game; also looks a little sketchy sometimes when they forget to fix typos and such
IndieGogo
I haven't ever used this distributor, but I know they're a Kickstarter-like site. A notable difference (aside from being less famous) is that they have an optional "flex funding" feature where they will get the money even if they don't reach their stated funding goal.
Indie Royale
An Australia-based bundle distributor. Closely related to Desura, they tend to feature many obscure indie games - including many that are given a initial release in an Indie Royale Debut Bundle. Their unique pricing system generally starts at minimum US$4 and goes up by a cent for everyone who purchases the minimum while higher purchases (such as US$10 or more) can bump the price back down; the result is that the price usually rises rapidly after a bundle becomes available, and stabilizes at around $5 to $6. Usually features Desura keys for all games in Royale bundles; games not yet on Steam (which is frequently the case) usually get a Steam key upon release there as well.
Advantages: lots of obscure indie games
Disadvantages: nothing in particular
Kickstarter
Not really a specialized game distributor, but worth mentioning anyway. A crowdfunding service, based in the US. Some of the crowdfunding projects are games, and generally, these offer an opportunity to back a project very early in development (or porting/updating/localization, in some cases). The game is almost never available yet, so it's probably most appropriate to see a "purchase" as an investment in a project rather than a typical direct purchase. Generally offers a game at a much higher price point than one can find the game selling for down the road; US$10 to $25 usually gets a copy of the game, while the next price point up usually adds the soundtrack for an additoinal $10 to $15. (Woe betide those who don't give me my soundtrack as the second major tier but instead put some artbook nonsense before it, and then ask over $50 for the game + artbook + soundtrack.) Higher tiers add in more goodies; physical goodies usually start at around $50 or more depending on the project. Really high pledges (usually $100 and up) may provide unique rewards such as custom NPCs or enemies designed by the backers. Obviously, not for picking something up cheap, but only if you really, really believe in a project.
Advantages: support a game project or studio you really like
Disadvantages: much higher price point, not immediately available
Origin
A distributor and client system made by Electronic Arts. I don't use it, but it seems to basically be Steam but for EA's games. Also features a money-back guarantee or return policy, I think.
Playism (a.k.a. Playism-Games)
A Japan-based distributor with a branch in the US (California). Specializes in Japanese indie ("doujin") games, as they also serve as a localization group. They have a relatively small selection, but among them are a number of games that only they offer. They also sell some western indie games. Often (though not always) provide Steam keys, if available, as well as DRM-free copies in some cases.
Advantages: unique selection, and sometimes unique pricing (e.g. best price on One Way Heroics $1.99 for DRM-free + Steam key)
Disadvantages: no major sales events, so prices for other games are typically not very competitive
Note: their URL is playism-games.com; if you just go to playism.com you get a porn site.
Rice Digital
I think this distributor also specializes in Japanese indie games, but I'm not sure. I've never used them.
Steam
A US-based distributor, and probably the most famous of them all. Offers a very wide selection of publisher-backed and indie games, and is also known for their wallet-eating seasonal sales events with their deep discounts on many famous games. Uses a client, which offers wrapper DRM (technically called "Custom Executable Generation), as well as a number of social features; Steam's user community is the most developed of any of these distributors. (Note that not all Steam games use Steam's wrapper DRM; some use no DRM at all and Steam merely launches them as a convenience; a few even use 3rd party DRM.) Includes feature to trade (and sell, in some cases) in-game items, gift copies of games (which can be bought and stored indefinitely on one's account), and (most recently) trading cards for those games that have them (which can be used to generate social features, or sold on the Steam Community Market for store credit). They sometimes do region pricing (including the infamous $1=£1=€1 scheme) and region locking (e.g. gift copies bought in Russia or Brazil can't be played in the US). Occasionally provides "bundles" of a few games, at fixed prices, but this feature is rarely used.
Advantages: social features, game gift storage, trading/market features
Disadvantages: not necessarily DRM-free, some region-locking and region-pricing, scammers using social features
Note: features the "Greenlight" program, where indie devs (or publishers even) who want their work on Steam can submit their game for Steam user community feedback to try to become sold on Steam's store. Indie games frequently show up here and in other bundles at the same time; their devs usually (but not always, and under no obligation) provide Steam keys (upon Steam debut) to people who buy the game prior to its approval for sale on Steam.
The Green Light Bundle
A bundle distributor that specializes in promoting games in Steam Greenlight. Bundles have so far been rare, but are reasonably cheap. Steam keys are promised if the games make it onto Steam, if I recall correctly.
Advantages: nothing in particular
Disadvantages: rare
It will be gone in three days.
(source: http://blog.bundle-in-a-box.com/)
It's a shame; I missed their RPG bundle.
That said, I do have two extra Eclectic Bundles from them. They contain the following:
* Delve Deeper [D][S], including 2 DLC packs: Gratis Grottos and Treasures & Tunnels
* "Hexadecimal" (soundtrack of Droidscape: Basilica)
* Eversion [S]
* Fibrillation [D]
* Flibble
* Human Tanks I: War of the Human Tanks [D][S]
* Sound of the Human Tanks (soundtrack of Human Tanks I)
* Skylight [D]
* Shadows on the Vatican - Act I: Greed [D][S]
* Shadows on the Vatican - Act II: Wrath [D]
* Shadows on the Vatican (soundtrack)
* Stay Dead [D]
* The 4th Wall
* The Adventures of Shuggy [D][S]
* The Adventures of Shuggy (comic)
* The Adventures of Shuggy (soundtrack)
[D] = Desura key
[S] = Steam key
All products are also available by direct download. But only for the next two days.
Let me know if you want one. Note that the downloads become unavailable after August 8, 2014, so you'll have to download and get keys (or at least save the webpage for the keys; they're in the source code) for everything immediately.
However, according to a response on Twitter, they say that all of their digitally-distributed games are DRM-free.
Also, a friend tells me that they're UK-based.