Ubisoft has been skipping out on Steam releases for its major games for a few years now, with the company opting to launch its PC games on its own store, Ubisoft Connect, and the Epic Games Store since 2019. However, times are changing, as earlier today Assassin"s Creed Valhalla appeared on Steam with a December 6 release date.
This won"t be the only Ubisoft game to breach back into Steam either, as Eurogamer reports that titles like Anno 1800 and Roller Champions are on the way too. Only the latest Assassin"s Creed entry has a Steam launch date attached to it though. Funnily enough, on the same day Valhalla will receive its final update, concluding Eivor"s saga that began two years ago.
Note that Anno 1800 has been available for purchase on Steam before, albeit only in pre-order form. While those early pre-orders were honored on Steam, the game was pulled from the store at launch, and has only been purchasable on Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store since then.
Ubisoft is not the only major publisher in recent times to dive into Steam"s massive audience, with EA coming back in 2019. Even Activision-Blizzard has decided to release Call of Duty on the platform alongside Battle.net after a long absence.
While no announcements regarding Ubisoft"s future PC plans have been made yet, it will be interesting to see if the company plans to bring its upcoming games to Steam on day-one — with more Assassin"s Creed, Splinter Cell, and Avatar on the way — or will it use the platform as a way to double-dip on its more matured live-service games.