Ubisoft has quietly made one in every of its greatest PC‑gaming strikes in years. Beginning with Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown, the writer is testing a brand new system on Steam that delivers Ubisoft Join options with out forcing gamers to put in or launch the Ubisoft Join PC launcher in any respect.
In a small replace posted to Steam, Ubisoft defined that the brand new “Ubisoft Join Companies” device will maintain cross‑development, cross‑play, challenges, rewards and different account‑linked options intact, however take away the requirement for the standalone launcher. Ubisoft describes this primary model as “an preliminary step towards a smoother and extra streamlined launch expertise on Steam”, including that it plans to iterate on the system and roll it out to extra titles over time.
This can be a notable shift for Ubisoft. For years, PC gamers have been annoyed by the corporate’s launcher, which frequently sat between Steam and the sport itself, including additional steps, slowing startup occasions and creating occasional login points. Many might be happy to see it go, though you’ll seemingly nonetheless want a registered Ubisoft account to entry sure recreation options like cross-save.
Ubisoft says the brand new system will “progressively evolve and roll out to extra Ubisoft video games on Steam sooner or later”, so it should not be too lengthy till we begin seeing it in titles like Rainbow Six Siege and Murderer’s Creed.
KitGuru Says: Ubisoft Join is not going away utterly, however that is nonetheless a welcome change. Do not rush to uninstall the launcher simply but although, as there are nonetheless many titles in Ubisoft’s library that can have to be up to date.