Ubisoft games headed back to Steam

Ubisoft has revealed that it’s bringing newer games to Steam, after it left the platform three years ago over an “unrealistic” business model

A statement from Ubisoft has revealed that the company will be launching some of its games on Steam, after new games were absent from the platform for three years.

In a statement made to The Verge, Ubisoft spokesperson Jessica Roache said that three major Ubisoft titles, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800, and Roller Champions, would be headed to Valve’s premier PC games store. All of these games were previously released on Ubisoft’s own Connect platform, and some appeared on Epic’s contentious Epic Games Store.

Roache reportedly declined to comment on whether or not future games would make their way to the platform, but did reportedly say that the company evaluates the release of each title closely. “We’re constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect.”

Roller Champions is a free-to-play competitive rollerskating game which released in May 2022 to little fanfare. Picture: Ubisoft

While a number of prior titles from the company have appeared on Steam, new releases have forgone the platform since 2019, with the last major title, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, releasing on Steam in April of 2019. It’s likely that even when the games become available on Steam, players will still have to have Ubisoft Connect installed to access the games, as is common with titles from major publishers.

Ubisoft opted not to release its games on Steam for many years due to what the company’s vice president for partnerships said was an “unrealistic” business model, according to GameSpot. This is likely referring to Steam’s profit cut, which takes 30% of all revenue for games sold on the platform, while other platforms like Epic Games Store charge just 12%.

Publishers who opt to sell games on their own platforms, like Ubisoft’s Connect, obviously don’t have to pay a cut to anyone at all, with the only major cut to profits being the cost of the infrastructure. Other publishers who’ve opted to run their own storefront include Blizzard, which has its own Battle.net platform, and EA, which operates its Origin platform.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey was the last Assassin’s Creed game to launch on Steam, back in 2018. Picture Ubisoft

Ubisoft has come under fire recently after the director of an upcoming Assassin’s Creed game was accused of harassment. Jonathan Dumont, the creative director for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Project Red, was accused by former and current Ubisoft employees of being “abusive and controlling”, among many other allegations.

The accusations came shortly before Ubisoft revealed it had partnered up with Riot Games for the “Zero Harm” project. The project reportedly combines the two company’s technologies to leverage AI technology and cut down on toxicity in online gaming.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.