Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 will skip Steam, will be released on Epic’s Digital Store and UPLAY

DSOGaming writes: "While Ubisoft’s previous titles were not exclusive on UPLAY and found their way on Valve’s store, it appears that – starting with The Division 2 – a select number of its upcoming titles will come out exclusively on Epic’s new digital store and Ubisoft’s own store."

[italiangamer]

Ok now this is big.

[RainOfTerror]

big, and disappointing on Ubi's part.

[slasaru01]

big and dissappointing is the banner on the bottom of N4G comments

[TekoIie]

No it's not. Ubisoft performs very badly on PC and it shows in all of their figures. I remember TB once saying that if you're a PC Gamer you may as well pretend Ubisoft doesn't exist. If you think this is big news then tell me about how big a deal Origin has been in destroying Steams dominance.

[Obscure_Observer]

EA, Microsoft, Activision/Blizzard, Epic and Ubisoft has left Steam to favor their own store/platform. At the top of those facts, Rockstar continues to treat PC gamers as second class citizens, and only god knows what Bethesda is gonna do when The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield finally releases.

It´s past time to Valve start to develop their own games and announce Half Life 3. Steam´s future depends on it!

[fiveby9]

I do think Valve must have some concern. I like Steam but I am not loyal to it as it is basically a launcher for me. I don't like having multiple launchers for every publisher but that is not going to change. In the long run, publishers don't want to pay Valve upwards of 30% to sell their game. Having an additional launcher run when I play a specific title is mildly annoying but that is not new. I just close launchers when not in use. I have 32GB RAM in my PC so I barely notice when UPlay is even running. EPIC with their pricing structure will potentially be quite a competitor for Valve. Perhaps Valve will improve even more in the face of stiff competition. But if on principle a person doesn't want to play a game because of the store front / launcher, oh well. And yes, Valve needs to develop and publish more games.

[CaptainCook]

R.I.P Steam
2003 - 2019

[TheColbertinator]

Your move, Steam. Adapt or die.

[Father__Merrin]

They won't adapt. Gabe needs his burgers

[TheColbertinator]

And oreos

[Razzer]

Epic is playing around with this game store. That's a pretty massive coup.

[fluxmulder]

And so it begins.

[Blu3_Berry]

This is actually pretty big and it may encourage other major publishers to move away from Steam/Valve until they get their sh*t together and start getting rid of all the fat to make it more appealing. 30% vs 12% is pretty big and if Valve wants the other publishers to stay on Steam then they need to start reducing the percentage cuts. Even I have to admit that 30% is too much.

Just imagine if Rockstar decides to put Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC but exclusively on the Epic Games Store, that would be a huge blow to Valve/Steam. At that point they're gonna have to do something major to convince publishers to stay on Steam. This will be interesting to watch unfold throughout the year.

[shadowraiden]

well it depends if the Epic store tends to be expensive though it will never gain traction no matter what games they add to it people will still go to steam for everything else. to put it frank this aint as big a coup as people think

[shammgod]

Whoa!

[PlayableGamez-]

Do you still need uplay?

[Vits]

Most likely yes, since they are talking about Epic Store and Uplay integration.
So the only difference between releasing it on Epic and on Steam, is that now the consumer will not have access to the community, marketplace and progression systems offered by Steam.

Therefore, I believe that Ubisoft real plan is not to drive buyers to Epic but to their own Store. Since now the consumers will get nothing from buying it from "the other" retailer.

[Giblet_Head]

It'll be cheaper on Uplay either way if you're buying through a cdkey site near release.

[jonivtec]

That suck...i do prefer steam over uplay and epic...

[Profchaos]

The past few years has seen steam hike the prices of games significantly for overseas users like Australians. Hopefully this is a wake up call a 30% fee to sell a devs game on the platform is just wrong.

[WitcheRivia]

RIP the playerbase on PC. Ubisoft would rather sell 1,000 copies to get 10-20% more money per copy sold on Fortnite Launcher instead of selling 30,000 copies on Steam.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Not interested in Division but I hope this doesn't cause a precedent for everyone to skip steam for an 18% cut and money hatting from Epic. There is no reason for a consumer to use Epics launcher over steam, and the only thing they can do to attract anyone is throw money at exclusivity. This tactic just segments the playerbase and hurts both devs and players. I just hope Valve does something other then wave their hand and continue letting their employees ban T rated games.

[Miacosa]

Makes senses no need for them to pay the Valve tax of 30%

[jukins]

Damn valve better start pumpingcommission. Or change its commision on steam

[Father__Merrin]

Good. Why should developers & publishers be forced to use steam? Steams a mess at the moment too many games buried on top of each other.

Division 2 is gonna be amazing coop game and its going to do well on Uplay and Epic

[shadowraiden]

"division 2 is gonna be amazing" erm we shall see this is Ubisoft were talking about and Uplay which i want to add has had major fuckups every single online game released by them.
Far Cry's co-op was fucked on launch due to issues with Uplay, Division 1 oh guess what still has some issues with Uplay, Siege is a mess at the moment do i need to go on

[Father__Merrin]

You could say that about any pc game. Some have issues some not, just Google any game and any gpu and type in issues after it, you find people with problems.

For me division 1 was an absolute blast to play in coop, even more so when I jumped from HD 7970 to a 970, just depends how it works for you

[JackBNimble]

For one nobody is forcing any dev or publisher to use steam.
Secondly there are well over 100million active users on steam , why wouldn't you want to sell your games there?

[JackBNimble]

I personally own more indies on steam then AAA but obviously I can only speak for myself.

[shadowraiden]

@gahl1k yet more indie games sell on steam then they do elsewhere. cant tell me they wont see light of day when there has been so many success stories for steam with Indie games and tbh i own more indies on steam and i bet that is same for a lot of people.

its not on steam to advertise your game its a store thats it. its still up the devs to market the game so them complaining they get hidden on steam is their own fault how about do some cheap marketing like giving out some keys to popular streamers etc

other stores are going to be no different after a few years and i would argue steam is still 10x better for showing off indies other than the select few that seem to have a partnership with Epic games to be on their front page right now which guess what not all indies will

[Kainbrightside]

Valve announces soon after left 4 dead 3 and half life 3 bundle Epic responds uh we have Fortnite and Division 2 guys..guys

[That_Guy244]

Just means one less game I have to ever worry about playing.

[slavish0]

The website comments are so opposite of most internet forums ive seen

[Taz X14]

I’ve got the feeling that Ubisoft know The Division 2 will probably share a similar fate to Destiny 2 and they’re just using this as a way to test the waters per say. While it was a big seller at that point (as was the first destiny), since then we’ve had so many online mmo-lite games come out with botched releases that people are starting to get burnt out or wary of launches. Ubisoft want to see how people (and more specifically Valve) will react to this. While this is a good start for Epic’s store, until mainstream franchises make their way there, I wouldn’t make a huge fuss just yet...

[theshredded]

Epic games store is on the rise. That's what happens when you sit your bum comfortably for too long.

[gamer7804]

And on Microsoft store and psn...

[Movefasta1993]

This is good , steam need competition that 70-30 split is ridiculous no wonder we don’t have a half life 3, left for dead 3 , portal 3 or any big pc game from them

[TheGoodestBoi]

As if I console war wasnt enough we now have launcher wars too!