Ubisoft sells rivals' games in online shop

French videogame maker Ubisoft began selling computer games made by Electronic Arts, Warner Brothers and other rivals at its online Uplay shop.

California-based Electronic Arts, in turn, added Ubisoft hits including "Assassin's Creed III" and "Far Cry 3" to its Origin network for play as the companies ramped up their challenge to Valve Corporation's Steam service.

Third-party computer games available for download from the Uplay shop include a game-of-the-year edition of "Batman: Arkham City" and "Crysis 3," according to Ubisoft.

"We're thrilled to be bringing EA titles to Uplay and Ubisoft titles to Origin—the more choice for consumers, the better in today's gaming world," said Origin vice president of production Michael Blank.

"Offering games like Dead Space 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted and more on Uplay is a great opportunity to reach even more PC gamers worldwide."

Uplay is an online gaming community boasting 50 million members who access the service from videogame consoles, mobile gadgets, or personal computers.

"Adding excellent titles from EA, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and many other top developers to Uplay shop means that players now have more choice in where and how they purchase games online," said Ubisoft vice president of digital publishing Chris Early.

Origin reports having nearly 40 million users who sign on to play or buy games using computers powered by Windows or Macintosh software, or iPhones, iPads or iPod touch devices.

At the start of this year, Steam network for game software and online play was reported to have more than 54 million active users and laid claim to the lion's share of the videogame digital distribution market.

(c) 2013 AFP