The Division 2 Ditching Steam Is "A Long-Term Positive," Says Ubisoft

[Megalith]

Recent comments by CEO Yves Guillemot suggest Ubisoft is on its way to dumping Steam for good: after the company moved The Division 2 to the Epic Games Store, pre-orders of the sequel increased six-fold compared to its predecessor on Uplay. The implication is that Steam’s absence has boosted the popularity of the company’s own game store, which is certainly welcome news for Ubisoft.

“With this deal, we saw an opportunity to increase player exposure to our own store while at the same time supporting a partner that greatly values our games and provides better terms,” he claimed on yesterday’s earnings call. “Early indications are supportive, as PC pre-orders are higher than for the first Division, and pre-orders on the Ubisoft store are six times higher. We believe this deal is a long-term positive for Ubisoft.”

 

[sfsuphysics]

Sounds like Epic is just fishing for companies to move over to their platform, yeah they have lower rates but they also might have artificially low rates because they're offering them up to big name games.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Sounds like Epic is just fishing for companies to move over to their platform, yeah they have lower rates but they also might have artificially low rates because they're offering them up to big name games.

They still have a huge margin on the cut they get, so it is at least financially sustainable. Now, whether or not they DO sustain at this price point for publishers if they become popular is another story.

 

[viper1152012]

Higher pre-orders ... Incentives when buying from epic store?

We'll see how the copies sold over the next few months out weighs the loss from using steam.

 

[Carbon_Le]

Game is mediocre anyways.

 

[Bigshrimp]

I feel like this is something they wanted for a long time and they finally acted on it. Not sure if they will be happy with the results, since long-term they may be losing sales compared to having it on Steam.

 

[TrevorR]

Even if its on Epic now, will it still require Uplay? I mean, i have WIldlands and multiple far cry games on steam but it always loads up uplay which defeats the purpose of buying the game on steam.

 

[Flogger23m]

I feel like this is something they wanted for a long time and they finally acted on it. Not sure if they will be happy with the results, since long-term they may be losing sales compared to having it on Steam.

I think their going to move away from Epic long term and be Uplay exclusive. I think they were worried about PR from going Uplay exclusive right away. Putting it on Epic makes buying directly from Uplay the more desirable option as it has been around longer, and anyone who purchased an Ubisoft game on Steam for nearly the last decade uses Uplay within Steam. It will "normalize" buying directly from Uplay. Its an awkward strategy, but considering how whiny gamers are I suppose it will smooth things out PR wise.

I suppose while Fornite is popular they'll put games up on Epic's store for extra exposure, and then starting 2020 they will be Uplay exclusive like EA and Origin. The only way I see them staying on Epic long term is if Epic cuts them a deal with UE4 technology transfer. Maybe Ubisoft wants to follow EA's lead and centralize on one or two game engines.

 

[M76]

Well DUH! You take away people's goto store they'll choose the lesser evil of the remaining options.

It's like a winery saying: Taking away beer from people is a long term positive, they drink more wine! A positive for you, not for the people.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Well DUH! You take away people's goto store they'll choose the lesser evil of the remaining options.

It's like a winery saying: Taking away beer from people is a long term positive, they drink more wine! A positive for you, not for the people.

And when you ban wine, they drink furniture polish / floor wax.

This is that argument I have with people who get a ton of weird/exotic pizzas for a group get-together. "But they all got eaten!" - yes, people were hungry and eventually got to the kale and artichoke pizza, but they didn't WANT it.

Now, back to sipping my 2009 old vine zinfandel. I will fight anyone who tries to take it away.

 

[odditory]

Even if its on Epic now, will it still require Uplay?

Yes.

 

[ChoGGi]

“Early indications are supportive, as PC pre-orders are higher than for the first Division"
Did he just say a known brand name sells better than an unknown one?
I'm not sure how that says much about Steam vs Epic.

 

[illli]

Ubisoft should really be on their way to dump their own garbage uplay

 

[ManofGod]

Ubisoft should really be on their way to dump their own garbage uplay

I have a few games there so no, not at all.

 

[DrDoU]

Use whatever’s there. Don’t care what service.

 

[necrosis]

I still love watching one streamer that did a thing in Metro Exodus and went "I BET I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A STEAM ACHIEVEMENT FOR THAT!".

Then a bunch in chat said "Actually... you do."

 

[Nolan7689]

And when you ban wine, they drink furniture polish / floor wax.

I’m sorry but what?! I know this is getting off topic but I’m pretty sure when alcohol was banned before we just illegally made our own or smuggled from Canada.

Can’t say I recall hearing about drinking polish and wax.

More on topic, Ubisoft is on crack unless they’re trying to play the long game and moving to their store having exclusivity away from Steam. They’d do better to have a great game that everyone wants to play as well. At this point though, what established franchise haven’t they tarnished? BG&E 2 doesn’t seem to catch any of what made the first game great. Rayman isn’t exactly a system seller. Splinter Cell?

I just don’t see them having customer support with all their other shenanigans to play the long game. And short game....Tencent Exclusivity well, here’s hoping the extra money is worth it, since I bet they still lose sales from not offering on steam. Same as when Uplay first hit.

 

[ChoGGi]

I’m sorry but what?! I know this is getting off topic but I’m pretty sure when alcohol was banned before we just illegally made our own or smuggled from Canada.

Never heard of jake walk? People used some pretty nasty additives when prohibition has around.

 

[ManofGod]

I’m sorry but what?! I know this is getting off topic but I’m pretty sure when alcohol was banned before we just illegally made our own or smuggled from Canada.

Can’t say I recall hearing about drinking polish and wax.

More on topic, Ubisoft is on crack unless they’re trying to play the long game and moving to their store having exclusivity away from Steam. They’d do better to have a great game that everyone wants to play as well. At this point though, what established franchise haven’t they tarnished? BG&E 2 doesn’t seem to catch any of what made the first game great. Rayman isn’t exactly a system seller. Splinter Cell?

I just don’t see them having customer support with all their other shenanigans to play the long game. And short game....Tencent Exclusivity well, here’s hoping the extra money is worth it, since I bet they still lose sales from not offering on steam. Same as when Uplay first hit.

Really? Steam has customer service? Since when? (No, I am not trolling but straight up serious, where is their customer support phone number?)

 

[Submarinesailor]

I still love watching one streamer that did a thing in Metro Exodus and went "I BET I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A STEAM ACHIEVEMENT FOR THAT!".

Then a bunch in chat said "Actually... you do."

And your point is?

 

[homernoy]

If the PC gaming market becomes too fragmented, it will die. It's an open platform and that's good to a point, but there is only so many store fronts the average PC gamer will tolerate before going back to console simplicity....especially when next gen consoles are on the horizon supporting M/KB.

 

[NKD]

Game is mediocre anyways.

You have the right to your opinion.

 

[Aioeyu]

I never really liked Ubisoft as a company to begin with. Once they required uplay, even on steam, I stopped buying their games, even when they were on deep sale. All these different launchers are a waste of time and resources. I'm not saying companies couldn't have their own launchers, just that having to use them exclusively is BS. If I wanted to be tied to a specific storefront, I'd be a console peasant instead of PCMR. Maybe killing PC is the real goal?

 

[Aioeyu]

I never really liked Ubisoft as a company to begin with. Once they required uplay, even on steam, I stopped buying their games, even when they were on deep sale. All these different launchers are a waste of time and resources. I'm not saying companies couldn't have their own launchers, just that having to use them exclusively is BS. If I wanted to be tied to a specific storefront, I'd be a console peasant instead of PCMR. Maybe killing PC is the real goal?

Full disclosure, I have a free key for division 2 coming from AMD. I still doubt I'll ever play it, due to hating uplay.

 

[NKD]

I never really liked Ubisoft as a company to begin with. Once they required uplay, even on steam, I stopped buying their games, even when they were on deep sale. All these different launchers are a waste of time and resources. I'm not saying companies couldn't have their own launchers, just that having to use them exclusively is BS. If I wanted to be tied to a specific storefront, I'd be a console peasant instead of PCMR. Maybe killing PC is the real goal?

Then hate steam equally. no? may be they should all be sold through windows store then?

 

[BloodyIron]

Ubisoft has a history of very buggy games at release, so really no loss there. I don't remember the last time they released a game I hungered for.

 

[Derangel]

I think their going to move away from Epic long term and be Uplay exclusive. I think they were worried about PR from going Uplay exclusive right away. Putting it on Epic makes buying directly from Uplay the more desirable option as it has been around longer, and anyone who purchased an Ubisoft game on Steam for nearly the last decade uses Uplay within Steam. It will "normalize" buying directly from Uplay. Its an awkward strategy, but considering how whiny gamers are I suppose it will smooth things out PR wise.

I suppose while Fornite is popular they'll put games up on Epic's store for extra exposure, and then starting 2020 they will be Uplay exclusive like EA and Origin. The only way I see them staying on Epic long term is if Epic cuts them a deal with UE4 technology transfer. Maybe Ubisoft wants to follow EA's lead and centralize on one or two game engines.

Ubi's engines aren't completely unique engines like UE or Unity. They're all heavily modular and share elements. WatchDogs 1, for example, used AC3's animation engine, Far Cry's gun combat shows up in Division and so on. There is no incentive for them to switch engines and would likely end up making each studios' jobs more complicated as they'd have to either rebuild every shared engine from scratch or try to port them over to UE. EA's moronic "everything must use Frostbite" idea has fucked over every studio not named DICE, they're a really bad example to follow.

 

[zehoo]

I stopped buying Ubisoft stuff from steam a while ago since I could get it cheaper from the ubi store and uses that launcher anyway.

 

[Pieter3dnow]

I love this then they hope their customers will follow suit and run after them. While Steam might not be the perfect place, but you can not deny it is preferred by many.
Just think of the many people that will stick to Steam and decide that instead of Ubisoft games it is time for something else.

 

[MrDeaf]

I don't think it was stream
It's Uplay that ubisoft ties into steam, for a double login app service, that was frustrating and annoying.

And it wasn't even steam that was annoying, it's about 99% Uplay's fault for being a trash app.

 

[5150Joker]

This is the beginning of the death of Steam and is entirely Valves fault for being lazy. Instead of making a new half life or left 4 dead game all these years they enjoyed the free flowing money. I can't even remember the last time I bought a game on Steam because I find big name titles on other launchers like origin and apparently now epic.

When I look at the steam store all I see is a sea of shitty indy games.

 

[Nolan7689]

Really? Steam has customer service? Since when? (No, I am not trolling but straight up serious, where is their customer support phone number?)

I’m sorry, I meant consumer support not customer support. My mistake on that.

 

[Auer]

This is the beginning of the death of Steam and is entirely Valves fault for being lazy. Instead of making a new half life or left 4 dead game all these years they enjoyed the free flowing money. I can't even remember the last time I bought a game in Steam because I find big name titles on other launchers like origin and apparently now epic.

When I look at the steam store all I see is a sea of shitty indy games.

I don't think Steam is going to die because you only play/want AAA titles.

And I hope there will always be a place for Indy titles as many like them. Steam so far has been pretty good for that.

I don't understand why you would want to deny other people something they enjoy. Even a Joker should know diversity is a good thing.

 

[5150Joker]

I don't think Steam is going to die because you only play/want AAA titles.

And I hope there will always be a place for Indy titles as many like them. Steam so far has been pretty good for that.

I don't understand why you would want to deny other people something they enjoy. Even a Joker should know diversity is a good thing.

Who said I want it to die? I listed reasons for why steam is on a decline. The rampant flood of crappy indy games is like what happened to Atari in the 80s before it failed.

 

[dgz]

The last Ubisoft game I bought was XIII. It was amazing, but they haven't produced anything even remotely interesting (to me) since then.

 

[ChoGGi]

Grow Home/Up were pretty fun (cheap too).

 

[Master_shake_]

Yves 95 percent of all PC gamers are pirates Guillemont?

i wasn't buying your shit anyway.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Who said I want it to die? I listed reasons for why steam is on a decline. The rampant flood of crappy indy games is like what happened to Atari in the 80s before it failed.

Strangely, one of the best games for the 2600 platform was about a character named "Indy". Whoa...