Ubisoft Will Air Its Games On Steam Deck ‘If It’s Big Enough’
Since the partnership with Epic Games Store, Ubisoft has been decreasing its game releases on Steam in order to push its own launcher Ubisoft Connect. But the recently announced Steam Deck might change Ubisoft’s current dynamic among different platforms.
In its Q1 earnings call this week, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot responded to an investor’s inquiry about the upcoming Steam Deck by implying the potential of launching games on this console.
“We’re happy to see Steam Deck coming to the industry, it shows that it continues a flow of very innovative new hardware coming to the market,” he said. “So we will look and see how big it becomes, but if it’s big we will be able to put our games on it.”
That being said, it is still unknown how Ubisoft would interact with this new console. If it decides to return to the Steam store, the company will relieve Steam’s 20% – 30% cut of sales depending on how well a game sells, while Epic Games Store charges significantly less (12%). Moreover, as promised by Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais, the Steam Deck “can pretty much run anything you can run on a PC,” which means the launchers like Epic Games Store and even Ubisoft Connect would be perfectly accommodated.
Therefore, there’s no strong reason for Ubisoft to return to the Steam store. Still, Ubisoft might come up with more direct access to the Steam Deck.
According to our previous report, the Steam Deck functions like a larger Switch but with more advanced features, including improved audio, enhanced graphics and optimized speed. There is no official release date yet, but it is set to come later this year. You can preorder here.