After almost four years without distributing new games on Steam, Ubisoft has had a change of heart. The French company has confirmed that three of its most recent releases will reach the Valve platform, which is currently the market leader.
The return will begin with ‘ Assassin’s Creed Valhalla ‘. The title, released in 2020, will be available on Steam starting December 6. ‘ Anno 1800 ‘ and ‘ Roller Champions ‘ will also arrive, although the dates are not yet confirmed.
Ubisoft changes its mind four years later
According to Eurogamer, the company says that this move responds to its strategy of bringing games to more audiences, but does not mention the reasons that led to its decision to leave Valve’s platform. However, commissions could have been a reason.
In 2019, Ubisoft’s head of partnerships and revenue, Chris Early, had called Steam’s business model, with its 30% commissions, “unrealistic.” Rival Epic Games Store, at the time, charged a commission of just 12%.
Product of its new stance, Ubisoft bypassed Steam for its releases from ‘ Far Cry 6 ‘ to ‘ Ghost Recon: Breakpoint ‘. Thus, the company bet everything on the Epic Games Store, which had been launched a year earlier, in 2018, and on its own Ubisoft Connect platform.
Although the background to Ubisoft’s decision to leave Steam is unknown, it is known from Apple’s lawsuit against Epic that the platform from the creators of ‘Fortnite’ has paid millions of dollars to get exclusive releases.
In any case, agreements with companies to obtain exclusive releases and the payment of commissions seem to be losing relevance. Several players in this industry are returning to Steam, which continues to lead in users.
Activision Blizzard returned to Valve’s platform after years of absence with the release of ‘ Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ‘. Electronic Arts, absent since 2012, did the same with the launch of ‘ Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ‘.
It remains to be seen, then, what will be the next moves in the industry regarding the distribution of new titles on third-party platforms. Will Epic prepare its bank account to try to recover the exclusive releases?
As our colleagues from Extra Life point out, the remake of ‘Splinter Cell’, new installments of ‘Assassin’s Creed and games like ‘Skull & Bones’ or ‘Beyond Good and Evil 2’ could be the next to arrive on Steam, but still, It is not known if they will arrive.
Steam Deck users, for their part, may be wondering if the arrival of the first titles on the Steam platform will open the door to being able to play them on the Steam Deck. At the requirements level, there are no impediments, but this has not been confirmed.
However, the fact that the departure from Valve and Ubisoft has been in the past can facilitate the work of compatibility of the games so that they are available on the portable console. For now, all that remains is to wait.
Comments are closed.