As a company that makes some of the biggest titles in the gaming market, Ubisoft is no stranger to controversy. However, in recent years, audiences have been calling their PC releases into question. Launching an Ubisoft PC title always depends on at least one piece of Ubisoft-exclusive software, such as the Ubisoft Connect service. These dependencies can clash with other game services like Steam, and have thus caused serious compatibility issues for many players. The recent Steam release of The Division 2 suffers greatly from these problems.
Audiences are frustrated with having to navigate through multiple software services just to try and launch The Division 2, and even when the game successfully runs, players still have to deal with constant crashes and bugs. It's negatively affecting the Steam sales and reviews of the game. Players are obviously never happy with non-functioning games, but their reaction to The Division 2 is even stronger than anticipated. The title's release is another entry in a series of extremely controversial Ubisoft decisions.
Why The Division 2's Steam Release Is So Controversial
Releases like The Division 2 are especially controversial for Ubisoft nowadays, since it's a reversal of the 2019 decision to make their newer games exclusive to the Epic Games Store. Ubisoft has recently been releasing many of these previously Epic-exclusive games, such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, on other platforms like Steam. Valhalla, among other games, also received a controversial release concerning its dependency on extra Ubisoft launching software.
Many gamers are putting these broken releases in the context of Ubisoft's financial state. Aside from their crashing PC titles, Ubisoft has been delaying and canceling projects at a confusingly high rate. Audiences can't stop speculating over the financial reasons behind Ubisoft's decisions. The concern of these gamers just grows in the wake of The Division 2's release, since it shows that Ubisoft has allowed for a release of a five-year-old game in an unplayable state, while also neutralizing any exclusivity deal they had with Epic Games. Many players are beginning to avoid new Ubisoft titles just because of the developer's recent controversies.
The Future of Ubisoft Releases
Although there is little public knowledge about the inner workings of a major studio like Ubisoft, their prospects do not look promising. Between employee strikes, game cancelations, and non-working releases of old games, it's possible that a big change is underway for the future of Ubisoft. Many players are still strong fans of the company's successful franchises, such as Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, and Far Cry. It's likely that the next new Ubisoft game will garner quite a lot of attention. However, after the most recent release of The Division 2, a game riddled with issues that initially dropped several years ago, it's also likely that audiences are fed up with Ubisoft's Steam releases.
The Division 2 is the latest example of how Ubisoft has been trying to migrate more titles to other PC game services, but it hardly ever works out well. This release caused a massive outrage in Steam audiences, and it seems that all it has managed to do is remind people of Ubisoft's other recent controversial actions. Given the outcry over the 2023 Steam version of The Division 2, it's possible that this will be one of Ubisoft's last attempts at releasing their out-of-date games to newer audiences.