Ubisoft's Anno 1800 will only be purchasable on Steam until release

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Derangel

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In a bit of an interesting/weird move, Ubisoft has announced that the upcoming Anno 1800 will be another one of their games, following Division 2, that will only be able to be purchased on Uplay and the Epic Game Store but only after launch. Prior to launch (April 18) the game can be pre-ordered on Steam and anyone who buys it there will get the game through Steam. Ubisoft will provide patches and future game content to the Steam version at the same time as everyone else. Since you need Uplay for the game anyway Steam users will still be able to play multiplayer with anyone that buys it on the other stores.

https://www.anno-union.com/en/ubisoft-is-partnering-with-epic-games-store-for-anno-1800/
 
tetris42 said:
I'm finding it fascinating that companies are turning Steam into a pre-order bonus.
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Yeah, though the game was already up for pre-purchase on Steam before Ubisoft made their deal with Epic. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens with any unreleased Ubisoft games currently listed on Steam.
 
Derangel said:
Yeah, though the game was already up for pre-purchase on Steam before Ubisoft made their deal with Epic. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens with any unreleased Ubisoft games currently listed on Steam.
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Oh okay, so it's more sloppy implementation rather than an original plan.
 
Sounds more like abusing the steam platform for the pre-sale income and free advertising to me since they have the nice storefront that millions use to shop for new games. Another game that will benefit monetarily from poor planning? Eh .. I only knew metro exodus was coming out due to seeing it on steam, I'm sure I'm not alone.

Valve seems to be walking on egg shells over this, they need to just state in bold that any game using their platform for preorders or "coming soon" be released on steam or else... But then people will rage at them when we see threads like "valve suing ubisoft for breach of contract"..

Gaming industry is a mess now..
 
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Ubisoft was probably going to drop steam anyway and shift to having only their store sell their products. Suddenly you have Epic flush with cash and they’re just throwing it around to get exclusives so Ubisoft just want some of it.

I would not be surprised at all to see Ubisoft dump the Epic store like a sack of ..... once the bribe money stops coming and the contracts expire (the fortnite money runs dry).
 
Mode13 said:
Sounds more like abusing the steam platform for the pre-sale income and free advertising to me since they have the nice storefront that millions use to shop for new games. Another game that will benefit monetarily from poor planning? Eh .. I only knew metro exodus was coming out due to seeing it on steam, I'm sure I'm not alone.

Valve seems to be walking on egg shells over this, they need to just state in bold that any game using their platform for preorders or "coming soon" be released on steam or else... But then people will rage at them when we see threads like "valve suing ubisoft for breach of contract"..

Gaming industry is a mess now..
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As long as companies are honoring the pre-orders then Valve really doesn't have much of a leg to stand on here. Ubisoft isn't doing anything that violates any store policy. Valve could update their policy, but making things more annoying for publishers will just push them to sign with Epic when they're offer stacks of cash to do so.
 
Mode13 said:
Sounds more like abusing the steam platform for the pre-sale income and free advertising to me since they have the nice storefront that millions use to shop for new games. Another game that will benefit monetarily from poor planning? Eh .. I only knew metro exodus was coming out due to seeing it on steam, I'm sure I'm not alone.

Valve seems to be walking on egg shells over this, they need to just state in bold that any game using their platform for preorders or "coming soon" be released on steam or else... But then people will rage at them when we see threads like "valve suing ubisoft for breach of contract"..

Gaming industry is a mess now..
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you need uplay to launch those games regardless. But steam charges pretty decent fee for the games sold on their platform, I doubt they turn away that kind of money and even with pre orders only its still a decent chunk of money with their base.
 
This all sounds horribly counter-productive to me... but it's obviously about $$$
/how many game launch platforms does the world really need?
//sticking to Steam only just for mental peace of mind
 
Lumpus said:
This all sounds horribly counter-productive to me... but it's obviously about $$$
/how many game launch platforms does the world really need?
//sticking to Steam only just for mental peace of mind
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As many as people are willing to buy from. I'm not against the idea of EGS but Epic has so many issues they need to deal with and pissing off gamers by buying exclusives is not exactly great PR for them. I get why they feel the need to do it (and I've spent years talking about how much Valve needs competition) but everything is such a mess with how they (and the publishers they pay) are handling everything.
 
Mode13 said:
Sounds more like abusing the steam platform for the pre-sale income and free advertising to me since they have the nice storefront that millions use to shop for new games. Another game that will benefit monetarily from poor planning? Eh .. I only knew metro exodus was coming out due to seeing it on steam, I'm sure I'm not alone.
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Steam is one of the last places I find out about new games. I'm sure most people are like this. Most games are announced before a Steam page goes up. I don't bother searching the store at all anymore because it is a mess. I'm sure some people will log into Steam one day and see the pop up when a game nears release that hadn't seen it before, but as long as the game is up for sale on Steam then it still works in Valve's favor.
 
Ubisoft makes some great games, and I have always loved their Anno games. I cannot however stand them as a company :/
 
Lumpus said:
This all sounds horribly counter-productive to me... but it's obviously about $$$
/how many game launch platforms does the world really need?
//sticking to Steam only just for mental peace of mind
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Not how the business model works here. More than one company can compete for your business. How is steam doing business selling different then any other businesses competing for your dollar? Its your right to spend your money where ever you want but its also epic and ubisoft's right to compete with steam to make money. No?
 
NKD said:
Not how the business model works here. More than one company can compete for your business. How is steam doing business selling different then any other businesses competing for your dollar? Its your right to spend your money where ever you want but its also epic and ubisoft's right to compete with steam to make money. No?
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I am all about options but the way Epic is going about it is just horrible. Also the biggest issue I see with competition is in the end publishers dictate the prices so it doesn't really matter where I buy from since prices are generally the same for all AAA games. The only one that truly offers an advantage over Steam is GOG with their DRM free copies. It's like Android vs iPhone, once you've made the jump into a certain ecosystem its hard to get out because they've already integrated all the best offers and features of their platform and you've spent considerable amounts of money for apps and such, there's no incentive.
 
NickJames said:
I am all about options but the way Epic is going about it is just horrible. Also the biggest issue I see with competition is in the end publishers dictate the prices so it doesn't really matter where I buy from since prices are generally the same for all AAA games. The only one that truly offers an advantage over Steam is GOG with their DRM free copies. It's like Android vs iPhone, once you've made the jump into a certain ecosystem its hard to get out because they've already integrated all the best offers and features of their platform and you've spent considerable amounts of money for apps and such, there's no incentive.
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There hasn’t been major competition to steam. Steam didn’t have all these features on day one. Steam just had a big monopoly in this space. Android had one hell of a time to climb the ladder against Apple.
 
NKD said:
There hasn’t been major competition to steam. Steam didn’t have all these features on day one. Steam just had a big monopoly in this space. Android had one hell of a time to climb the ladder against Apple.
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Which is what Epic should be doing instead they think they can slingshot themselves to the top.
 
NickJames said:
Which is what Epic should be doing instead they think they can slingshot themselves to the top.
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Well steam can also compete better instead of charging 30% is sale price. That is a big cut. That is one of the reasons you saw other game makers come out with their own platforms. Yea steam will be a method of distribution but if they can profit more by selling elsewhere it just more money in developers pocket which I have no issues with since games aren’t exactly getting any cheaper to make.
 
NKD said:
Well steam can also compete better instead of charging 30% is sale price. That is a big cut. That is one of the reasons you saw other game makers come out with their own platforms. Yea steam will be a method of distribution but if they can profit more by selling elsewhere it just more money in developers pocket which I have no issues with since games aren’t exactly getting any cheaper to make.
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They already adjusted their tiered pricing like 5 months ago. The whole "30% cut" argument has no foundation anyway, they take a large cut because they provide enough backbone and infrastructure to make it easier for developers/publishers to have access to analytics, data distribution, game servers, forums, advertising, and more. Relevant portion at 27:30.


And for the record, GOG tried to compete by offering a fair pricing system which lowered the cuts for some of the titles they sold and found it financially impossible to maintain profit margins so they had to terminate the program. https://www.gog.com/news/conclusion_of_the_bfair_price_packageb_program

Epic is operating their platform on a loss/Fortnite money solely to generate enough interest in their platform and then they will jack up the cut, guarantee it.
 
NickJames said:
They already adjusted their tiered pricing like 5 months ago. The whole "30% cut" argument has no foundation anyway, they take a large cut because they provide enough backbone and infrastructure to make it easier for developers/publishers to have access to analytics, data distribution, game servers, forums, advertising, and more. Relevant portion at 27:30.


And for the record, GOG tried to compete by offering a fair pricing system which lowered the cuts for some of the titles they sold and found it financially impossible to maintain profit margins so they had to terminate the program. https://www.gog.com/news/conclusion_of_the_bfair_price_packageb_program

Epic is operating their platform on a loss/Fortnite money solely to generate enough interest in their platform and then they will jack up the cut, guarantee it.
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amazing how you can guarantee something that hasn't happened yet. Only think you can guarantee is your opinion and you have every right to it. Cheers.
 
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