'The Division 2': Why Ubisoft's Departure From Steam Is The Best Move

Ubisoft has recently announced that they’ll only sell the upcoming "The Division 2" on their own online store and the Epic Games Store. Previously, Ubisoft regularly pushed out their new releases on the Steam platform for many years. Here’s why Ubisoft’s departure was a good move.

In a report from Epic Games blog, Ubisoft’s "The Division 2" will only be released on the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store, nowhere else. The original "The Division" was released on Steam. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, Ubisoft’s move might’ve been because of Epic Games’ smaller revenue cut than Steam. Epic Games would only take 12% of the profit while Steam has 30%. Since Epic Games started this online storefront, they’ve been promising some exclusives they wouldn’t find on other online stores like Supergiant Games’ "Hades," and now Ubisoft’s "The Division 2." Lastly, Epic Games announced that they’ll be partnering with Ubisoft for more titles which means upcoming Ubisoft games like "Beyond Good and Evil 2" and "Skull and Bones" might not be in Steam.

While Steam users hoping for the new Ubisoft games would be sad, this move for Ubisoft could be a good move not only for Ubisoft and Epic Games but also for Steam. With a solid competition building up, Steam could potentially be pushed to have policy changes to adapt in response the competition. Since Steam is currently the largest online games store right now and has overshadowed other platforms before Epic Games Store, many users and even developers would benefit from the changes.

Currently, Epic Games Store has yet to gather a large audience for their new platform for themselves. Aside from the advantageous sales practices and exclusives, we’ve yet to know what Epic Games is planning to do to stay on top of the competition.

In other new, "The Division 2" will be released this coming March 15. A beta will also be available but Ubisoft has yet to announce the start date for both the Private beta and the free-for-all, open beta. Let’s see what else Epic Games and Ubisoft has in store with this partnership.