Amazon already sells PC digital downloads through its website, but the selection is nothing compared to services like Steam or Direct2Drive. The retailer is hoping to change that when it begins offering pre-orders for PC digital downloads this week. Amazon told CNET that the first slate of titles would include Battlefield 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Saints Row: The Third, and Sims 3: Pets. The initial lineup is already available (Saints Row: The Third is MIA currently) and Amazon will continue to offer retailer-specific pre-order bonus items for most of the titles.
Amazon will be using its considerable retail might to bring the same incentives to PC digital pre-orders that it brings to boxed game sales. An Amazon rep told CNET that pre-order pricing “could be up to 30 percent off launch list price." And like other pre-orders on the website, consumers pay nothing on a pre-order until the product ships.
Now that we’re entering the gulf between console generations, is it time for PC to rise again?
