Ubisoft Reverses Its Steam Policy, Will Launch New Games There On Day One
Ubisoft’s financial disclosures this week don’t have a lot of good news for investors, especially since Star Wars Outlaws debuted to disappointing sales and Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed to 2025. However, the company did offer an encouraging update about its relationship with Steam. Ubisoft has reversed its previous stance and will now release both Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam, along with other day-one releases.
In 2019, Ubisoft executive Chris Early explained why the company had pulled back from Steam and shared his thoughts on its business model. “It’s unrealistic, the current business model they have,” said Early. “It doesn’t reflect where the world is today in terms of game distribution.”
Instead of releasing games through Steam, Ubisoft dropped titles through its own online store and via the Epic Games Store. It was widely assumed that Ubisoft continued to support Epic because it takes a smaller percentage of game sales than Steam does. Ubisoft’s decision to rethink its relationship with Steam may mean that the company believes it can increase its sales by utilizing that store’s wider reach.