lThe relationship between Ubisoft and Steam is not at its bestand this is one of those cases where players shouldn’t experience too much doubt about which side to take. In the vast world of gaming, where player numbers tell the stories of success or failure, Ubisoft seems to be struggling with a reality it doesn’t want to see in public numbersas the statistics of active players on Steam have become a thorn in the side of companies and now they are trying to change the rules of the game.

Active player counts are a key metric for judging success or failure, as they reflect the health and popularity of a game. Tools like SteamDB allow anyone to access this information, making it easier to make purchasing decisions or join the gamer community. However for Ubisoft This transparency negatively affects the perception of some of its titles.

A very recent and notable example is the case of Star Wars Outlaws. This game, which recently arrived on Steam, Barely managed to surpass 1000 simultaneous players when starting it. Additionally, total sales on Valve’s store fell short of 2 million copies, well below the 10 million needed to make a AAA project profitable by Ubisoft’s standards. It’s true, yes, it was previously sold on other platforms, but due to Valve’s greater reach and thus the expectations created, this poor performance did not affect public perception of the game, but neither did the company’s stock value.

Ubisoft is not the only company interested in limiting the visibility of these statisticswe’ve previously heard that other companies have pressured Steam to restrict access to tools like SteamDB, demands that Valve thankfully didn’t address. However, neither Ubisoft nor Steam has issued an official statement on the issue, so the veracity of these claims remains up in the air.

Looking to the future, Ubisoft has its hopes up Assassin’s Creed Shadowsa new title set in Japan that promises to revive the franchise with innovative stealth mechanics. With its launch scheduled for February 14, 2025, the company hopes to regain players’ trust and improve its market position. In addition, Ubisoft announced plans to increase release frequency Assassin’s Creedwith new titles every six months, in an effort to keep the saga relevant.

Ubisoft’s demand on Steam to hide player numbers, if true, seems to be just another piece of its strategy to address the current challenges. The success of the next launches will be decisive in determining whether these measures can change public perception and improve the situation for society, although with measures like this several points are recorded in the opposite direction.

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