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Ubisofts new games aren't available on Steam in several (all?) regions
- Thread starter Tak3n
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I don't think Steam dictates pricing. I imagine Ubisoft just doesn't want Steam taking a cut of their income. They think they can sell enough on uPlay to make up for whatever sales loss they get by not selling on Steam.
We'll see.
alexandros
Banned
I don't think Valve has any rules regarding pricing, unless Ubisoft wanrs to do something stupid like charge more for buying outside of Uplay. Something else is wrong here. Maybe retailer pressure to screw over Steam?
Captain Chaos
Member
Sales lost from me for Ubisoft products.
Sportbilly
Member
Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Publishers have complete control over what they can release on Steam. Who is Ubi trying to fool here?
Yes, just the UK, which makes the Valve blame all the more humorous.
Uplay can get stuffed. I expect them to have all their new games to be available after xmas on steam. If not I am willing to buy from the US via proxy or something crazy to get far cry 4 if the reviews are still good after the first month of hype dies down and we start to get the backtrack reviews.
The Cowboy
Member
Doesn't bother me, if they are on Steam they'd still use the Uplay launcher just the same (at least my copy of FC3 BD does) - i wouldn't buy a new game on Steam just as much as I wouldn't buy a new game on Uplay. if i buy any of these games I'd buy them from a cheaper place (as i always do), and I would still have to use Uplay all the same.
Now if the Steam version didn't require Uplay 'd look at this differently, as Steam is way better than Uplay, but seeing as the Steam version still requires Uplay it just doesn't matter to me.
Now if the Steam version didn't require Uplay 'd look at this differently, as Steam is way better than Uplay, but seeing as the Steam version still requires Uplay it just doesn't matter to me.
Ubisoft should just stop putting games on Steam altogether, much like EA does. No reason to give Valve a 30% cut when they don't need to.
They're going to hurt themselves in the long run by putting their games on Steam and eventually no one would be willing to buy a game unless it's on Steam.
They're going to hurt themselves in the long run by putting their games on Steam and eventually no one would be willing to buy a game unless it's on Steam.
Sentenza
Member
Nor on any other platform, as far as I'm concerned.
Oh, well, who am I trying to kid? That hardly changes anything. i was already avoiding most Ubisoft games like a plague in the last years.
It's up to publishers. The reason games are often priced at parity with retailers is because of the risk of otherwise rocking the boat with distribution partners. We saw this in 2011 with Portal 2: Valve wanted to unlock the game the Friday before release as per the bathysphere clue but had to postpone it to Monday because EA either changed its mind or wasn't privy to the intention, thus the rigged GLaDOS@Home nonsense.
daninthemix
Member
This really f*cking annoys me, because this will harm Ubi PC sales DEFINITELY, and in turn Ubi will become less invested in PC ports. A vicious circle that has absolutely nothing to do with the consumer.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
No UBISOFT GAME #8, #9 & #10 for steam fans I guess.
if the game isn't on steam then i'm not buying it. i pay full price for games just for it to be on steam even when there is a 75% or 80% sale on some other distribution service (eg: I bought splinter cell blacklist for full price on steam even though it was on sale on Uplay at that time)
Well they've been doing this for nigh on three years and it's always the same response when questioned. Here's what Steam Support said to me about Watch Dogs not being available in the UK but everywhere else. (I've got to dig out the Uplay support email I used sorry).
And I've had the 'wait and see' response every time I've asked Steam Support in the past whether it's for THQ published titles, Bethesda published titles or Ubisoft Published titles. The other two have since stopped being dicks but Ubisoft are still not having their titles up day and date with the rest of the Steam territories. Same thing when I question them they say either buy it on Uplay or get it at retail,
And I've had the 'wait and see' response every time I've asked Steam Support in the past whether it's for THQ published titles, Bethesda published titles or Ubisoft Published titles. The other two have since stopped being dicks but Ubisoft are still not having their titles up day and date with the rest of the Steam territories. Same thing when I question them they say either buy it on Uplay or get it at retail,
Yeah that has happened quite a few times.
Normally they are put up 24-48 hours before release date.
Isn't it obvious?
Sentenza
Member
"Why should I sell my brand of canned beans on Walmart and give them money when I could sell it in my own garage and not share the profits with anyone else?
This will surely work wonders for my business!"
I hope this affects their sales, I hate Origin and I've hated UPlay ever since they had their awful DRM in place so I know I certainly won't be buying any of their games. Although maybe I'm complaining for the sake of complaining for other people as I don't even like Ubisofts games for the most part anyway.
Well, it kinda does. They see that console buyers shell out £50 for their games and they seem to think that PC buyers should be doing the same. They probably also look at Origin and see that EA can sell their big games for £50 and wonder why they cant do the same. That isn't altogether unreasonable in my eyes, but its short-sighted and naïve at the same time.
Basically, they see PC buyers as more stingy and less profitable, which is probably true to an extent, but snuffing that market isn't going to do them any favors, either.
daninthemix
Member
The hubris. I long for the day when this sort of big publisher pride causes them to topple into a puddle of irrelevant sputum.
Analogy doesn't work. They're not selling it out of the equivalent of a home garage at all. They have their own store and want to sell stuff from there, which is a pretty common and normal thing to do. Its not necessarily always the best business decision in every case, but it does work for a lot of companies(Apple, EA, Blizzard, just off the top of my head).
Steam takes a 30% cut.
If Ubisoft don't feel they're losing more than 30% of their sales by not being on Steam, then they can justify not being on there.
Its easy to think that they will definitely lose more than 30% of sales by not being on Steam, but at a £49.99 pricepoint? Is it really going to be a massive seller on Steam at that price?
It might actually be close.
What? Are you saying that GAME, who have 'Only at GAME' special editions...
http://www.game.co.uk/en/assassins-creed-unity-revolution-edition-only-at-game-301000
http://www.game.co.uk/en/assassins-creed-unity-notre-dame-edition-only-at-game-301006
http://www.game.co.uk/en/far-cry-4-special-edition-only-at-game-303407
http://www.game.co.uk/en/watch-dogs-game-exclusive-special-edition-220126
http://www.game.co.uk/en/watch-dogs-game-exclusive-vigilante-edition-219920
for a plethora of Ubisoft titles and maybe not want competition? Nooo.
You may be tempted to assume (and reasonably so), "Well, maybe this is just a test", but this isn't the first time.
Tizoc
Member
...but dat 60 FPS.
Huh, I'd never even heard of that before.
Surely they don't think retail is actually such a killer market that they have to make concessions for? :/
Sentenza
Member
It's the very same concept on a different scale, actually.
The very idea that selling your product in the most popular stores is bad because otherwise you would have to pay them a share is completely idiotic.
And on a side note I would be ready to bet that even EA's Origin can put Uplay in shame in terms of copies sold. So yeah... Garage.
Yeah, sorry, you caught my edit. I added a Eurogamer article that offers some insight into the history of Ubi's regional restrictions.
The thing is, even when PC games are ridiculously priced like this is that you can usually just buy them at retail for a lower price relatively quickly (because retail PC game sales aren't exactly great these days) and you still get all the benefits of digital.
I'd rather just be able to buy them for a reasonable cost digitally, but there is always the backup of just buying it on disc and redeeming the CD key on uPlay or something.
If I don't see it for a reasonable price, digitally, anywhere - then that is probably what I'll do.
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