Exciting news for PC gamers today as Ubisoft has revealed its plans to launch some of its hit titles on Steam. Most notable is the news that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be making its way to Steam on December 6, as Ubisoft has confirmed with Eurogamer today.
The arrival of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla serves as a confirmation of Ubisoft making a big comeback on Steam. The publisher previously released the game on its own Ubisoft Connect platform for PC as well as the Epic Games Store when it originally launched a couple of years ago. However, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was notably absent from Steam, despite other entries in the franchise being playable on the Valve-owned platform.
While it doesn’t seem as though there are any plans to abandon Ubisoft Connect or remove the game from the Epic Games Store, its addition on Steam comes as part of a wider move from Ubisoft to broaden options for how players wish to access their titles. To this end, the publisher will also be bringing a couple of its other games to Steam, with both the strategy city-builder Anno 1800 and its 3v3 roller derby-inspired battle game Roller Champions making their way to the platform. While Steam players can embark on their very own Viking saga from early next month, there’s no exact date specified as of yet for the release of Anno 1800 or Roller Champions on Steam.
It’ll be interesting to see whether or not the addition of Roller Champions in particular will give Ubisoft a boost as far as the game’s player base is concerned. Launching the game on Steam could be a wise move, given that the title has struggled somewhat to find its feet, despite being a free-to-play game. Anno 1800 should also be a big hit with players on Steam, although it remains to be seen what kind of pricing structure Ubisoft plans to put in place for both the city builder and, indeed, for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Speaking to Eurogamer today, a Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed the news, explaining that the publisher is “constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are, while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800 and Roller Champions are among the Ubisoft titles that will be releasing on Steam.”
The clarification comes after earlier leaks suggested that this could be on the cards. Just last week Steam listings were spotted by eagle-eyed Reddit users in the Ubisoft Connect database, prompting speculation that a number of its titles would be making their way onto the PC platform. It looks like nothing slips past dataminers these days after all.