Ubisoft comes to Steam

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 2nd April 2008
Comments (18) Stumble
Ubisoft comes to Steam

Ubisoft has now moved 40 games to Valve's Steam service, including Assassin's Creed.

Ubisoft is the latest publisher to jump in bed with Valve, signing a huge 40 game deal with the online publisher and Half-Life developer to bring games to the Steam service.

The deal is largest any publisher has yet signed with Valve, dwarfing those signed by Activision, SEGA, THQ, Eidos and Rockstar. Even Epic and id Software have been left in the dust by the gusto of Ubisoft.

Among the games to be distributed over Steam is the upcoming PC version of Assassin's Creed, which will include expanded content and improved graphics over the console version.

The PC version of the game is available for pre-purchase now and will be made fully available online on the 9th of April - a day or two ahead of the European release date.

Ubisoft will also be bringing games from the Tom Clancy, Might and Magic and Far Cry franchises to the Steam service. Personally though, if Beyond Good and Evil isn't on offer then I'm not interested.

What do you think to Steam and the catalogue on offer? Let us know in the forums.
Quote Jordan Wise 2nd April 2008, 11:43
awesome, but didn't they already have some games on steam? dark messiah's been on there for ages, and that was published by ubisoft. mind you, they built that game using the source engine, maybe thats part of the deal when you use it
Quote DougEdey 2nd April 2008, 11:51
It's only in North America.
Quote Krikkit 2nd April 2008, 12:11
Booo... More games to tempt me in the Steam list... :(
Quote Tomm 2nd April 2008, 12:23
I think all games in one place is largely a good thing, even if you're tied into one company. Steam isn't too bad, let's hope they don't let us all down by abusing the monopoly.
Quote VictorianBloke 2nd April 2008, 12:51
I've been a fan a steam for a while now and can only say the more the merrier when it comes to games availiable. Steam also has the advantage of games working in Vista, I had no amount of issues getting The longest Journey running, downloaded in Steam and worked off the bat. Good on them so long as the servers can keep up with demand.
Quote Narishma 2nd April 2008, 12:54
What about the Prince of Persia series? Is there a list of the games concerned somewhere?
Quote darklord of chaos 2nd April 2008, 12:59
I think more games companies should use steam as it is reliable and unlike itunes if you have to reinstall your system as long as you know your U/N and password you can get your games back it is everything EA's download manager is not I got medal of honor airboure & cysis via that and know ea link won't work properly, can't play the game can't re-install the games/patches in short it sucks, but steam is good nice move ubisoft.
Quote DXR_13KE 2nd April 2008, 13:14
as long as it is cheaper....
Quote proxess 2nd April 2008, 13:42
Quote:
Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
as long as it is cheaper....

Couldn't agree more...
Quote DougEdey 2nd April 2008, 14:56
So all of you are supporting region restricted gaming?

Wow.
Quote TreeDude 2nd April 2008, 15:19
Steam has some great deals at times. Prey was just $5 over the weekend. For $5 I could not pass it up. Get all the Unreal games for $60! I love Steam. The bundles are awesome and I never have to look for a disk or a CD key. I am even considering buying games I already have just for the convenience.
Quote Nikumba 2nd April 2008, 15:27
My problem is with Steam is non Valve games tend to be a lot more expensive.

Call of Duty 4, is about $82 at the momemtn in the UK, which works out at £42, yet buy it in a shop costs only £30. So why when you are cutting out box product, reducing shipping costs, manufacturing costs does it still cost more than in a shop?

IF the games were cheaper or the same price as retail then I would get a lot more games on steam

Kimbie
Quote DeSean 2nd April 2008, 15:36
Actually CoD4 is a bit cheaper than that, but the point is the same. Downloads should be cheaper than games bought in a shop.

And yes I'm astounded that bit-tech is reporting this without mentioning that it is not available in the UK, which makes me sick frankly. This is 2008 on the internet, if something is available to one country then it should be made available to all if it is technically feasible to do so.
Quote VictorianBloke 2nd April 2008, 17:48
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
So all of you are supporting region restricted gaming?

Wow.

I'd glossed over the North America only bit tbh, too much to do at lunch I guess.

There is no excuse for region restrictions in this day and age I and personally don't see the point in them restricting their consumer base like this. Whilst I support the digital distribution idea and convenience of Steam's system, the fact that I can't access a large chunk of the product base is annoying. :(
Quote koajoe 3rd April 2008, 01:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by VictorianBloke
I'd glossed over the North America only bit tbh, too much to do at lunch I guess.

There is no excuse for region restrictions in this day and age I and personally don't see the point in them restricting their consumer base like this. Whilst I support the digital distribution idea and convenience of Steam's system, the fact that I can't access a large chunk of the product base is annoying. :(

Maybe this is not a Valve decision? If I owned game "X" and only wanted to release it in region 1 then it is my right as the owner. Granted this sucks, but still.

Maybe they do not have the broadband support in place to simultaneously release to Europe/ Uk at the same time.

From what I heard: Steam in Europe/ Uk sucked longer than it did in the U.S.
Quote Eloquence 3rd April 2008, 01:38
For North America only, boooooooooo. Damn Ubisoft. This reeks as much as the Activision price hike for Australian Steam users only. Maybe that's why this is for North America only. To protect the local stores who sell their games at a much higher price.
Or maybe because of distribution agreements?
Quote r4tch3t 3rd April 2008, 01:39
I want to get Prey, but it's not available here in NZ through Steam. I would be tempted to get Assassins Creed if I could get it on Steam for a decent price.
Quote DougEdey 3rd April 2008, 08:23
It's a decision by Ubisoft, Valva have Steam working the way they want it now (look at id).
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