Loudplay rents you a powerful gaming PC. We don't rent you the games — those you bring with you, the same way you'd bring them to any other PC. This trips up some users who see a game in the Catalog and assume it's free to play. This article clears that up.
What "pre-installed" actually means
Many titles in the Catalog are pre-installed on the virtual PC. Click the tile, the game's launcher (Steam, Epic, Rockstar) opens, you sign in to your own account, and you play.
Pre-installed means we've put the game's files on the machine so you don't wait for a 100 GB download. It does not mean we've bought the game for you. The licence belongs to your launcher account.
Practical consequence: clicking a pre-installed game tile, then signing in to a Steam account that doesn't own that game, won't let you play. Steam will show "Add to library" or "Buy" — same as on a regular PC.
What you need to bring
For most games:
- A Steam account with the game purchased (for Steam-distributed titles)
- An Epic Games account with the game in your library (for Epic-distributed titles)
- A Rockstar Social Club account for GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, etc.
- A Ubisoft Connect account for Ubisoft titles
- An EA account for EA titles
If the game requires a launcher we don't pre-install, you can install that launcher inside the session, but it won't persist between sessions — see "Installing your own games from Steam and Epic" for the persistence rules.
Free-to-play exceptions
A handful of games are genuinely free to launch — no ownership check needed. Examples:
- Dota 2
- Counter-Strike 2
- Path of Exile
- Warframe
For these you still sign in to a Steam (or relevant launcher) account, but you don't need to have purchased the title. A new Steam account with no games still works.
Some F2P games still won't run on Loudplay because of anti-cheat — see "Why Valorant, PUBG, Genshin Impact don't work". Free-to-play and runs-on-Loudplay aren't the same thing.
Why we don't sell game licences
Two reasons:
- Licensing. Reselling Steam, Epic, or Rockstar games requires deals we don't have, and those companies generally don't sell wholesale to third parties.
- Account ownership. Your save files, achievements, friend list, and purchase history live in your launcher account. If we bought the games, they'd be tied to a Loudplay-owned account that you'd lose access to the day you stop using us. That's worse for you, not better.
Renting the PC and letting you bring your own games means your library, progress, and achievements survive whether or not you keep using Loudplay.
What about games I bought on Loudplay before
Loudplay has never sold game licences. If you have time on your account, that's hours of PC rental, not games. There's nothing to migrate to a launcher account because nothing was ever owned by Loudplay on your behalf.
Putting it together
The mental model: Loudplay = a fast PC with a game library shelf already loaded. The games on the shelf are the box-art catalog of "we've installed these for you". To actually play one, you sign in to the same account you'd use on any PC and prove you own it.
If you don't own a game on any launcher and want to try it, the cheapest path is buying it on Steam (or wherever it's sold) — that purchase travels with you to any device, including Loudplay.