Let’s be honest. UPlay isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still an annoying piece of middleware that nobody really enjoys using.
But Ubisoft, as part of their 30th anniversary plans, are giving people perhaps the best possible reason to use UPlay: free PC games.
The promotion is running until the end of the year, which means Ubisoft will end up giving seven PC games from their back catalogue over the course of 2016. The first one is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a fairly decent game which most PC gamers should have in their library anyway.
And yes, it’s the same game that was later turned into a pretty ordinary movie. Which Ubisoft Montreal did an even better job rebooting in 2008.
According to the FAQ, you’ll need an Ubisoft account — obviously.
The operation is free you can get these games at no cost
To participate and get the games, you just need to:
– Have a Uplay account
– Register on the official webpage with your Uplay account
– Download, install the Uplay PC application on your PC and log in with your Uplay account.
Once the process is complete, you’ll be able to see the games in your Uplay library. The offers work on the same timeframe as PlayStation Plus or Games with Gold: freebies are only available in the month they’re offered, so if there’s something you want you have a month to redeem it. You don’t have to download the game to your hard drive, however.
The games won’t be available for Mac users, mind you, and you can’t redeem these offers through Steam — you have to go through Uplay. Still, a free game is a free game. And Sands of Time isn’t a bad one to start with.
Comments
15 responses to “Ubisoft Is Giving You A Reason To Use Uplay: Free PC Games”
My steam library has ubisoft games split up over 3 uplay accounts which is such a pain in the arse. I avoid all ubisoft games now because they piss me off so much.
The major downside is that they’re Ubisoft games.
I have received quite a few uPlay games for free over the years with my video cards and each time I went to play one I still felt like I was being scammed due to how awful uPlay is.
The last one I got was Rainbow Six: Siege which is a fantastic game but even though the uPlay client is always open every time I try to play it it informs me there has been a several GB update.
I have it set to always update and leave it open, why does it not auto update?!
What planet have you been living on, they’ve been doing this for years.
Nah, Origin (EA’s game delivery platform) is the one that’s been giving out free games. This is new (AFAIK)
UPlay have been giving out free games in the past.
It’s just that it isn’t well advertised, or such a large amount of good titles, or so many in such a small span of time.
I always wanted to play this game!
Will download it and attempt to play with its horribly outdated graphics :’)
GOG have the Sands trilogy and the cel-shaded bastardisation for 60% off in their current sale if you’re after the others
“Let’s be honest. UPlay isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still an annoying piece of middleware that nobody really enjoys using.”
I could say this for literally every piece of middleware out there (and it was one of the few reasons I jumped ship to PS4), though everyone around here still seems to swear by Steam (I figure just because it was there first).
I don’t think it’s just Steam being first, but the reasoning behind it as well – despite all the issues it still does things like let devs use other marketplaces (GOG/Humble/etc. for DRM-free versions) where Ubi and EA made stuff Uplay/Origin exclusive or using a second layer on top of Steam (which I think killed the audience for a few indie games, even though some were eventually able to drop the second layer and go Steam-only)
Do Uplay and Origin have functional offline modes nowadays? – I hear of Origin improving a fair bit, but the lack of offline busted plenty of Ubi single-player games from time to time.
Also of Valve’s [many] communication faux-pas, to my knowledge the worst they have done is withheld information – but never pulled an outright bait-and-switch or otherwise expressed an explicitly dishonest statement through an official representative… which can’t really be said for the others unfortunately.
Uplay annoys me, purely from a security point of view.
I’m ok with another company having another dedicated portal mostly because as an MMO player having an (relatively) annoying launcher is part of the deal but why on earth does Uplay not support 2 factor authentication in this modern age is beyond me.
the only other company that I can think of is GoG and even that I”m not sure about because it’s been so long since I’ve logged into my account… and the reason why I haven’t logged on to my account is really the reason why I’m ok with GoG not having it, offline installers
I just logged in to download Prince of Persia on uPlay and it asked me if I wanted to set up 2 factor authentication.
So, they’re listening….?
ooo i just googled and saw the news, thanks for the heads up!
somebody should probably make that front page news haha
For me personally, they could be offering their entire catalogue free forever and I have no interest. I want to be able to have all my games in the once space that works in a reasonable enough fashion. And for me that is steam. If it’s not on steam I have zero interest in buying your game. And that goes for consoles too.
Ubisoft has also provided a reason not to play any of those games: uPlay.
I use Steam,GOG,Origin. That is the order of greatness to me. I don’t use uPlay. But even so, I think as long as it runs, its doing its part. Yes, some distributors are better than others, but the choice is ultimately yours.