GameStop dumps its PC games client — you can buy codes for Steam, Origin, or Uplay now

You probably don’t associate GameStop with digital PC games. The company is hoping to change that.

The retail giant revealed improvements to its website today that makes it easier to buy PC games. If you buy a downloadable game for your computer through GameStop.com, you’ll now receive an email with a code that works with popular digital-distribution platforms like Steam, Origin, and Uplay. Prior to this change, GameStop required gamers to install its own client. This move reflects the company’s efforts to expand its non-retail revenues, which also has it opening hundreds of stores for Apple and AT&T products.

“Until now, our digital download process had multiple steps. After receiving customer feedback over the past year, we’ve made improvements to simplify our digital PC game purchase and download process,” GameStop director of merchandising Alan Walters said. “Our enhancements simplify the process and offer customers a streamlined experience.”

The GameStop software will continue as a library manager, but now the website handles everything else.

This change coincides with the retailer’s PC spring sale, which has games from multiple publishers discounted as much as 85 percent. It will run from today through June 2.

GameStop’s brick-and-mortar stores are still its biggest generator of revenue. The company is also growing its market share when it comes to new-gen consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

“GameStop made significant market share gain on next gen,” Sterne Agee analyst Arvid Bhatia wrote in a note for investors back in April. “In the first four months since the launch of PS4 and Xbox One, GameStop’s hardware market share is up 38 percent and software market share is up 52 percent compared to PS3 and Xbox 360 over the comparable period in the last cycle.”

Despite this, the corporation is looking for ways to continue generating profits well into the future. That includes opening 300 to 400 new Simply Mac, Spring Mobile, and Cricket stores. These are its Apple and AT&T outlets.

In addition to expanding its physical presence in other market sectors, the company wants to build up its digital business. It recently shut down its game-streaming division, which never launched a commercial product. The company will instead focus on mobile as well as selling cards for services like Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Now streaming service.