Over the last few years, Ubisoft has primarily released PC games on its own Ubisoft Connect store and on the Epic Games Store. In recent months, the company also finally began bringing games to Steam once again. Unfortunately, it looks like Ubisoft won't be keeping things nice and simple by bringing games to all three stores moving forward, as Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora may be exclusive to Ubisoft's own store.
Both Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws got gameplay reveals at Ubisoft Forward earlier this month. Now as spotted by PCGamesN, there seems to be a disconnect in release platforms for several Ubisoft titles. Right now, it looks like Assassin's Creed Mirage will release on Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store, but will skip Steam, despite Ubisoft just recently beginning to support the Steam platform once again.
With Ubisoft's biggest upcoming games, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft is seemingly only bringing the games to Ubisoft Connect on PC, skipping both Steam and the Epic Games Store at launch.
It would seem that moving forward, Ubisoft is going to release PC games on a case-by-case basis, with the biggest titles being reserved for its own store for an unspecified period of time, and smaller games going to other stores, like EGS and Steam. In some cases, Steam may also get skipped. It is a confusing web to untangle and one that I feel will cause issues down the line.
The only saving grace here is that in all cases, Ubisoft PC games require a Ubisoft Connect account, regardless of the store you purchased the game from. With that in mind, it will be easy enough for people who already play Ubisoft games to move over. However, for new fans who have not played a Ubisoft game before, this will add an extra step to their purchase and installation process.
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KitGuru Says: It would be much simpler if Ubisoft would just pick a lane and stick to it. Hopefully, Ubisoft can clarify its PC release strategy soon. If we're moving towards a future where Ubisoft cherry-picks certain games for certain stores, then I would advise them against it, as this will almost certainly be an unpopular approach – although being unpopular amongst PC gamers isn't exactly new territory for Ubisoft.