Ubisoft appears to have removed the original version of Assassin's Creed III from both the Steam and Uplay storefronts since the release of the HD remaster of the game was released earlier this past week. While the Steam page for the game now reads "At the request of the publisher, Assassin’s Creed III is no longer available for sale on Steam," it is still technically possible to download the game assuming that you already own it.

You're not so lucky if you bought a Uplay only version of the game, however. At the time of writing, Assassin's Creed III no longer appears in the store, and worse than that, you can't even download the thing as it won't appear in your library either. It is possible that in the future a way for those who already own the game to re-download it will become available again, but as of right now the download link redirects to the game's Steam page.

Worse of all it seems like the option to purchase the game on Ubisoft's own website still exists, which is probably not advisable considering the current difficulties a lot of people are having with trying to access the game via Uplay right now. While it does make a lot of sense to de-list a game when a remaster comes out to reduce confusion for your consumers it doesn't make a lot of sense to stop people from being able to download the game which they already own.

Quick Take

Okay so this is probably going to be the least controversial opinion on the internet but Ubisoft probably shouldn't have done this, at least not this way. I see the reasons behind delisting a game, it just makes sense to only offer the most up-to-date version of your product so people will only buy that version, and of course, the increase in price probably helps revenue as well. The problem comes when you're stopping someone downloading something that they paid money for. If Ubisoft isn't careful this whole mess could end up being a defining moment in the whole 'what are digital goods legally worth' conversation, and it really might not go in their favour.

What do you think about the removal of Assassin's Creed III? Do you think the Uplay incident was purely accidental or an intentional decision? Let us know in the comments below.