Something to look forward to: Recent leaks have proven true, as Ubisoft is the latest major publisher to return to Steam after a multi-year hiatus. The company will soon launch three titles on Valve's dominant PC game storefront, but it isn't clear if more games that missed Steam are on the way.
Ubisoft confirmed that it would resume releasing games on Steam after a three-year absence. The hiatus will end when it launches Assassin's Creed Valhalla on the storefront on December 6.
"We're constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect," Ubisoft told Eurogamer on Monday. "Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800, and Roller Champions are among the Ubisoft titles that will be releasing on Steam."
The publisher will also bring Anno 1800 and Roller Champions to Steam at a later, unspecified date. Ubisoft didn't mention whether it has similar plans for other major titles it withheld from Steam, like Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Extraction, Watch Dogs: Legion, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, or The Division 2. The company hasn't mentioned bringing upcoming releases to Steam, such as Skull and Bones or Assassin's Creed Mirage.
Valhalla's Steam launch will coincide with the game's final major update, which includes an epilogue to its storyline. Unfortunately, Ubisoft won't add a New Game Plus.
Hints that Ubisoft would return to Steam emerged over the last year and a half. In July 2021, the company said the Steam Deck's success could make it reconsider its Steam blackout. Seemingly reinforcing the rumors, code mentioning Ubisoft games and services appeared last fall and earlier this month.
The last major title Ubisoft released on Steam was Far Cry: New Dawn in 2019. Afterward, the company only released its PC games on the Epic Games Store and its Ubisoft Connect client. Like EA and Epic Games, Ubisoft didn't like Valve's 30 percent sales commission. Epic, meanwhile, only takes 12 percent.
That disagreement didn't stop EA from returning to Steam in 2019 after an eight-year absence, bringing along many of its prior big-name releases. In recent years, Microsoft has also started supporting Steam for the first time with games like Halo, Forza Horizon, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. This year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II became the first Call of Duty title in five years to be available on Steam after the series went exclusive to Blizzard's Battle.net service for a while.
Users aiming to buy Ubisoft games on Steam to avoid using Ubisoft's launcher are probably out of luck. Valhalla purchasers on Steam will likely have to use Ubisoft Connect in some capacity when they launch the game.
Ubisoft's return to Steam also raises whether it plans to bring along the Ubisoft+ subscription service. Users can already purchase memberships to EA Play through Steam, so there is no reason a similar arrangement could be made for Ubisoft+.