Ubisoft reveals why The Division 2 isn't on Steam, says preorders have outpaced original

[midian182]

In brief: Metro Exodus hasn’t been the only game to face controversy for abandoning Steam. Before it was revealed that the third entry in the Russia-set franchise would be a timed Epic Games Store exclusive, Ubisoft announced that The Division 2 would also be skipping Valve’s platform. It seems the decision has paid off, with the upcoming title racking up more preorders than its predecessor.

In its earnings call for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2019, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot talked about The Division 2 releasing exclusively on the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft’s own Uplay Store.

"There is a growing number of distribution platforms fighting for great content," Guillemot said. "With this deal, we saw an opportunity to increase player's exposure to our own store, while at the same time supporting a partner that greatly values our games and provides materially better terms."

Guillemot went on to reveal that moving away from Steam hasn’t hurt the Division 2’s preorders. More people have bought the PC version in advance of its release than for the first Division game, and it’s done especially well on Uplay, where preorders are six times higher. “We believe this deal is a long-term positive for Ubisoft,” added the CEO.

The Division 2 isn’t the only Ubisoft game coming to Epic's Store exclusively. The two companies said they would “also partner on additional select titles to be announced during the coming year.” The studio plans to release three or four AAA games between April 2019 and March 2020, though it never said what they might be.

Despite the protests from some gamers, it’s starting to look like the Epic Games Store is evolving into a real challenger to Steam, which has long been the dominant force in the digital PC games market. It still has a way to go—the small catalog and dearth of features compared to Steam remain issues—but Epic has definitely shaken up the industry.

The Division 2 arrives on March 15 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. PC gamers who order now also get a free game: Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Far Cry Primal, or Watch Dogs 2. Check out the requirements here.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78772-ubisoft-reveals-why-division-2-isnt-steam-preorders.html

 

[kira setsu]

All I remember the division for is being a waste of money, sounded like a cool idea on paper until I faced normal enemies that could take a full mag to the face yet still run up and bludgeon you to death with a bat, or even better the enemies that had an infinite supply of grenades and the all-knowing power of god when it came to throwing them at you.

epic should start boasting when they actually get a good game or better yet stop being terrible overall.

 

[gamerdood]

"The Division 2 isn’t the only Ubisoft game coming to Epic's Store exclusively"

Did you even read what you quoted in the article? It's not "exclusive" to Epic's store because it was and always has been available directly on Uplay (where everyone should buy it so you're not needlessly adding one launcher on top of another)... I cringe every time I hear someone say that the PC version of TD2 is "exclusive" to the Epic Games Store

 

[gamerdood]

epic should start boasting when they actually get a good game or better yet stop being terrible overall.

This article was all about Ubisoft boasting, not Epic

 

[m4a4]

Not comparable to Metro. Ubisoft already sells through their own store, with that being the install location these secondary stores would setup anyways.
And they didn't start selling it on Steam, only to pull the listing.

Besides, you should generally be buying Uplay games off of Uplay (since it's the publisher's store platform)... with the exception of sales.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

"exclusive" is defined as 'limited' in many cases and in this I think 'limited' is correct. I get that Epic leaves more on the table for the publisher - and Valve takes a bigger slice (and provides more). I'm lazy. I have Steam. I have GOG. I like Steam. I like GOG for DRM free classics. It is going to take one heck of an 'exclusive' for me to fiddle with another interface.

 

[gamerdood]

Not comparable to Metro. Ubisoft already sells through their own store, with that being the install location these secondary stores would setup anyways.
And they didn't start selling it on Steam, only to pull the listing.

Besides, you should generally be buying Uplay games off of Uplay (since it's the publisher's store platform)... with the exception of sales.

Agree... and even with Green Man Gaming and Humble... it's Uplay codes anyway... the Uplay launcher gets a lot of hate, but it's actually pretty good... the in-game performance stats overlay is probably the best I've ever seen... but I also only buy Ubisoft games there... nothing else

 

[kevbev89]

All I remember the division for is being a waste of money, sounded like a cool idea on paper until I faced normal enemies that could take a full mag to the face yet still run up and bludgeon you to death with a bat, or even better the enemies that had an infinite supply of grenades and the all-knowing power of god when it came to throwing them at you.

epic should start boasting when they actually get a good game or better yet stop being terrible overall.

They had the weirdest patch swings. In one patch every single enemy was like a mini-boss (like you said). In another patch you could almost heal infinitely and melt people with a single mag. Then they realized they needed a test server to actually figure out what would happen if they changed something.

From what I heard, things got a lot smoother and logical after they implemented the test server.

 

[Uncle Al]

Sounds like your all too typical marketing ploy .... claim it's' a big success, can't keep games in stock, all in hopes of drumming up interest again. The game had potential but in the end it was a bit too lame. Maybe they can put some more effort in it and make it worthwhile ......

 

[fluffydestroyer]

All I remember the division for is being a waste of money, sounded like a cool idea on paper until I faced normal enemies that could take a full mag to the face yet still run up and bludgeon you to death with a bat, or even better the enemies that had an infinite supply of grenades and the all-knowing power of god when it came to throwing them at you.

epic should start boasting when they actually get a good game or better yet stop being terrible overall.

full mag to the face. Thats the biggest grip with the game for gamers, if you can accept that, you'll find the rest of the Division a good game. For the normal enemies that bludgeon you to death, you,re talking about Hunters. the best and fiercest enemies in the game. I see some of the best players die to them very very easily...its quite funny too. those npc's are meant to be very difficult and challenging.

the only problem you mention thats worth it is the grenades. NPC's shouldn't have unlimited supplies as well. But I guess it makes up for all the gadgets and skills we have besides them.

 

[fluffydestroyer]

Sounds like your all too typical marketing ploy .... claim it's' a big success, can't keep games in stock, all in hopes of drumming up interest again. The game had potential but in the end it was a bit too lame. Maybe they can put some more effort in it and make it worthwhile ......

How can you make a game worthwhile when you have 6 times the amount of pre-orders compared to your first game ? thats free printed money. Once you got the money, you can basically tell your users to **** off like Bethesda did with Fallout 76 when looking at quality. Yes... gamers are ****ing stupid like this. lets give them money before the game runs out digitally ?!!?!??!

 

[Sausagemeat]

I get the impression that there is a very vocal minority who actually have a brand loyalty towards steam to the point where they will force themselves to miss out on a game they might love because it’s not on steam. I think the vast majority don’t really give a dam what piece of software launches the game they want to play.

 

[fluffydestroyer]

I get the impression that there is a very vocal minority who actually have a brand loyalty towards steam to the point where they will force themselves to miss out on a game they might love because it’s not on steam. I think the vast majority don’t really give a dam what piece of software launches the game they want to play.

That would be me. If theres a good game elsewhere, I'll get it. Thats it

 

[cliffordcooley]

So they are basing their success from preorders to a unknown game vs the sequel everyone knows about.

I think the vast majority don’t really give a dam what piece of software launches the game they want to play.

Independent launcher fine. I don't want 20 game stores that I have to keep updated.

 

[Bp968]

So they are basing their success from preorders to a unknown game vs the sequel everyone knows about.

I think the vast majority don’t really give a dam what piece of software launches the game they want to play.

Independent launcher fine. I don't want 20 game stores that I have to keep updated.

This. A sequel with massive amounts of advertising, and a ton of exposure from streamers (a thing that really didn't exist to the same level when the first game came out). It's hardly a result of the Epic store.

Honestly all these articles gushing about the epic store are starting to sound more and more like paid shill articles, and normally I'm not the conspiracy type. But for some reason people keep seeing Epic as some sort of underdog here but Epic is currently swimming in massive excess cash.

Discord had a store, its closing. Stardock had Impulse, its gone, Desura gone (I think its gone). Now look at the stores still open.. Origins, Uplay, GOG, whatever bethesda's store is called, their all owned by major publishers and are either tiny or they are the "exclusive" home of that publishers games (gog is owned by CD Project Red). Epic isn't going to supplant steam, simply because steam isn't doing enough wrong to warrant people switching. And hardcore gamers often have libraries so large with such a huge backlog that if a company makes their game a non steam exclusive than its just an excuse for me to save money and not buy it. Im not missing out on anything, I have hundreds of other games to play (and with humble monthly I will likely get a dozen more worth playing before I get done typing this comment).

Just go ask many new PC gamers or non-computer savvy pc gamers (yes, they exist). Most have never heard of GOG or the Epic store (even many fortnite players somehow seem to have missed the whole store thing to my surprise). To a number of my friends if the game isn't on steam it isn't on PC.

Exclusives are dumb. If the epic store is so epic than put it on all of them. Its not like steam price controls like apple does. But thats not how it works. Epic is *paying* these developers to be exclusive to the Epic store. I could care less that a developer makes their own store or publishes on other stores, what's pissing many of us off is the the whole "exclusive" nonsense and it pissed us off when EA did it years ago with Origins, and pissed many of us off when Bethesda did it with 76 (but less so because it was Fallout 76. Lol).

 

[Senkoau]

So they are basing their success from preorders to a unknown game vs the sequel everyone knows about.

I think the vast majority don’t really give a dam what piece of software launches the game they want to play.

Independent launcher fine. I don't want 20 game stores that I have to keep updated.

This. A sequel with massive amounts of advertising, and a ton of exposure from streamers (a thing that really didn't exist to the same level when the first game came out). It's hardly a result of the Epic store.

Honestly all these articles gushing about the epic store are starting to sound more and more like paid shill articles, and normally I'm not the conspiracy type. But for some reason people keep seeing Epic as some sort of underdog here but Epic is currently swimming in massive excess cash.

Discord had a store, its closing. Stardock had Impulse, its gone, Desura gone (I think its gone). Now look at the stores still open.. Origins, Uplay, GOG, whatever bethesda's store is called, their all owned by major publishers and are either tiny or they are the "exclusive" home of that publishers games (gog is owned by CD Project Red). Epic isn't going to supplant steam, simply because steam isn't doing enough wrong to warrant people switching. And hardcore gamers often have libraries so large with such a huge backlog that if a company makes their game a non steam exclusive than its just an excuse for me to save money and not buy it. Im not missing out on anything, I have hundreds of other games to play (and with humble monthly I will likely get a dozen more worth playing before I get done typing this comment).

Just go ask many new PC gamers or non-computer savvy pc gamers (yes, they exist). Most have never heard of GOG or the Epic store (even many fortnite players somehow seem to have missed the whole store thing to my surprise). To a number of my friends if the game isn't on steam it isn't on PC.

Exclusives are dumb. If the epic store is so epic than put it on all of them. Its not like steam price controls like apple does. But thats not how it works. Epic is *paying* these developers to be exclusive to the Epic store. I could care less that a developer makes their own store or publishes on other stores, what's pissing many of us off is the the whole "exclusive" nonsense and it pissed us off when EA did it years ago with Origins, and pissed many of us off when Bethesda did it with 76 (but less so because it was Fallout 76. Lol).

I have to admit I hear "exclusive" in relations to these things and I don't think "Wow only those on X get Y" instead I just picture a future where people go back to piracy because instead of one source supplying content from a lot of different creators at a reasonable price we have ones for each semi-major creator with their content "exclusively" available there. So you have to either pass on it, pirate it or pay a "reasonable" price dozens of times over to have access to all the content that interests you.

 

[gamerdood]

I have to admit I hear "exclusive" in relations to these things and I don't think "Wow only those on X get Y" instead I just picture a future where people go back to piracy because instead of one source supplying content from a lot of different creators at a reasonable price we have ones for each semi-major creator with their content "exclusively" available there. So you have to either pass on it, pirate it or pay a "reasonable" price dozens of times over to have access to all the content that interests you.

Apply that same logic to the physical world... if car lot A (the only car lot I choose to buy from) doesn't have the car I want because car lot B made a deal with the manufacturer to only carry their cars, I should then go to car lot B and just steal the car? People who justify it that way are losers (like I see a lot of the Valve militia saying), they would never do something like that with a physical item... most of these games are going to be on Steam in a year (except for probably all Ubisoft games going forward, but you can always do the more logical thing and get it straight from Uplay... why double up launchers if you don't have to?), so the only fair and decent thing to do is just wait... pirating it and saying you're going to buy it in a year to make yourself feel better about it is theft with no way around it (apply that to the car scenario).