Beginning with the much-delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft is bringing back Day 1 Steam releases. This decision appears to be a reaction to Star Wars Outlaws’ less-than-expected sales.
The change is a reflection of Ubisoft’s significant internal changes as well as the dominance of Steam. With 38,366,479 concurrent users earlier this week, Steam shattered its previous record for the most PC players online. The move is an awareness that any PC game that doesn’t launch on Steam is likely to leave behind a significant section of the audience.
It is not just Ubisoft that uses Steam. Almost precisely a year ago, Blizzard, which previously only released games on Battle.net, said that Diablo 4 will be available on Steam.
Ubisoft hopes that by implementing “the learnings from Star Wars Outlaws” and “further polishing the title,” the decision would help Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which was postponed. On the other hand, Star Wars Outlaws will be available on Steam on November 21.
