What just happened? Out of the gate, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is undeniably a hit, with strong reviews and sales, but the game encountered multiple rounds of controversy immediately following its launch last week. One issue involved the PC version's requirement for a constant internet connection.
According to complaints on Reddit and the Steam forums, the PC version of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced became unplayable over the weekend because Ubisoft Connect's servers experienced an outage. The incident locked players out of a single-player title that is supposed to have an offline mode.
Whether players purchased the game through Steam, the Ubisoft Store, or the Epic Games Store, all PC copies of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced require a one-time online activation through Ubisoft Connect. Once activated, playing should not require a constant internet connection.
Some players reported that the outage disabled all games that used Ubisoft Connect, suggesting that the service's offline mode does not function as advertised. The feature previously drew attention when Ubisoft introduced an offline mode for The Crew 2 after taking its online-only predecessor, The Crew, offline – a shutdown that bricked the game for 12 million buyers.
Discussion surrounding internet requirements for digital games has intensified following Sony's decision to cease printing physical discs after 2028, which raised concerns about customer ownership. Ubisoft has previously stated that users should get used to not owning games.
The Ubisoft Connect outage is not the first incident to draw outrage during the week following Resynced's launch. Steam users review-bombed the game after discovering that it includes $85 of DLC and microtransactions. In response, the publisher stressed that the $60 base game includes all of its core content and that the microtransactions simply help some players save time.
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This remake of 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag experienced the franchise's most successful launch in years. With its dramatically enhanced graphics and combat, the sandbox action-adventure game has proven popular with critics and players.
An analysis from Alinea noted that, two days before the game's launch, Resynced had achieved more than five times as many pre-orders as Assassin's Creed Shadows. The day after Resynced went live, Ubisoft announced that it had sold two million copies. Observers quickly noted the difference in the company's messaging compared to when it announced that Shadows had gained two million players, indicating that Resynced did far better commercially.