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Ubisoft Fails To Embrace SteamAs noted earlier, Ubisoft is pushing it's back catalog of games on Valve's Steam, and promoting the availability of Assassin's Creed for preorder at a nice 10% discount. Be one of the first to play the PC adaptation of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, coming to Steam on April 9. Now available for pre-purchase, Assassin's Creed features four new mission types exclusive to the PC version, including the Rooftop Race Challenge, a race to a specified location, and the Archer Stealth Assassination Challenge, where the player must assassinate all archers in a certain zone to help out fellow Assassins. Visit the Assassin's Creed page to learn more and pre-purchase your copy. Just one problem - if you actually click that link, and happen to reside outside of North America, you will land to the list of games available on Steam, with Assassin's Creed nowhere to be seen. It's as if the game is not available at all on Steam. So, what gives? Rock, Paper, Shotgun decided to ask Valve's Doug Lombardi, and he pretty much tossed the ball back to Ubisoft; “It’s their call. We offer worldwide coverage, and we’re happy to offer the products to as many customers as the publisher/developer desires.”  Ubisoft's Steam launch in action. This is pretty much Ubisoft riding the (steaming) failboat down the river, completely missing the point of Steam and online distribution of games - the simultaneous immediate availability of the game everywhere, so gamers can buy it before the free (and illegal) alternative of snatching a torrent becomes available. I'd venture a guess that in practice North America will get Assassin's Creed on April 9th from Steam, while Europe gets it off Pirate Bay. What I can't understand is why Ubisoft doesn't want to accept the money from Europeans - and we are talking about Europeans who are carrying hard currency, with a wish to part with it in order to download the game on the launch day. People interested in paying for it, instead of going for a torrent. It's not like US dollars are worth much of anything any more, so why not take our Euros? The Publishers Just Don't Get ItWhile pulling off stunts like this, the publishers keep wondering why the piracy figures are so much higher in Europe. When there is no legal option available, people tend to go for the illegal one. The only legal option for Europe is a trip to a game store, and I'm sure that it'll be 10th or 11th of April before the boxes are on the shelves, with only the "$" replaced by "€" on the price tag, effectively raising the price by over 30% even if you discount taxes. Our friends in the UK will get a tag sporting "£", and with some luck the numbers have been adjusted down by a bit, but not much. And before anyone jumps in - I know it's all probably due to complex distribution agreements and other deals that differ from region to region. My point is - Ubisoft entered into these deals. If they can't write contracts that allow simultaneous online distribution worldwide via Steam, they should hire better legal help instead of copying old contracts made in another day and age, when game distribution exclusively required handling the logistics of manufacturing and shifting boxes with shiny discs. These days we have this thing called "Internet", while boxes & shiny discs are soon joining the dinosaurs.
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