Assassin’s Creed fans slam Ubisoft after title removed from Steam – even if it was purchased

Ubisoft is removing some Assassin’s Creed content from Steam and fans are greatly dismayed to learn that some of their purchased content is not going to be available to play very soon.

Before we delve into the main part of the story, we have had an update from Ubisoft themselves as they have told VGC that “we don’t take the decision to retire services for older games lightly” and claimed it’s “assessing all available options” for impacted players.

Original story follows

In the space of just 14 years, including smaller standalone titles, Ubisoft has released 15+ mainline games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise and a majority of it is available to purchase on the extensive Steam store.

From the early beginnings of Assassin’s Creed 1 and Assassin’s Creed II to the most recent blockbuster entry in the franchise — Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — the series has explored multiple periods in time using a wide range of stories and characters.

Steam users have learned that one of these mainline titles is set to not only be removed as a purchasable option on Steam but players who already own the content will still not be allowed to access it.

Ubisoft to remove Assassin’s Creed game from Steam store

Twitter user Nors3.eth claimed that: “Ubisoft is making a precedent on Steam as Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD will not be accessible following September 1st, 2022. Even if you already bought it, a bar new low for consumers.”

If Steam users head to the website and head on over to the Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD game page, they will see two important notices.

The first of which says: “At the request of the publisher, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is no longer available for sale on Steam.”

Then, just underneath this message, there’s a second notice which reads: “Please note that this title will not be accessible following September 1, 2022.”

From this, it very much appears as if Liberation will be no longer playable on Steam, even if you already own it. Some players have said that it comes free with Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, but to most players, this is beside the point.

“None of what you said is a valid reason for completely making a single-player game you already purchased completely inaccessible,” one user said in response to the game being included with ACIII Remastered. Another person agreed, saying: “You think folks should have to buy another game to play a game they already paid for?!”

After fan backlash, Ubisoft did confirm to Polygon that owners of the game would still be able to access access the game’s offline components, including the single-player modes, after that date.

“As stated in our support article, only DLCs and online features will be affected by the upcoming decommissioning. Current owners of those games will still be able to access, play or redownload them,” Ubisoft told Polygon in an update to its earlier statement.