[Update, part deux: All three of the missing games have now returned to Steam in North America. At last check, however, they were still not available through Steam in the UK. Ubisoft has not commented on either their removal from Steam, or their reappearance.]

[Update: It seems that Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Unity, and The Crew won't be available via Steam from anywhere, as the listings for all three games have been pulled from the service entirely. We've reached out to Ubisoft for more information and will update if and when we receive a reply.]

Original story:



Are you staring intently at the Steam store, waiting for the release of Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Unity and The Crew? Stop! You're looking in the wrong place. At least, you are if you live in the UK. Ubisoft has confirmed that their upcoming titles won't be available on the UK version of Valve's digital store.

“We’ve been in discussions with Valve about Assassin’s Creed Unity but for the time being the game is not available via Steam in the UK,” a Ubisoft representative told PCGamesN.

“In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase the game digitally can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail partners or other digital distributors.”

Those other digi-game distributors include GreenManGaming and GamersGate.

The reaction to the news has been interesting. I've been idly following people's response on Twitter this morning, and overwhelmingly, it's been negatively received. And I get it—Uplay is an awful stain upon any hard-drive it touches. It's as much dirty protest as distribution client.

But, Uplay would be part of the package whether it had been bought through Steam or not. I bought Splinter Cell: Conviction on Steam; but that didn't stop Uplay being the thing that deleted my save games. Twice.

Is the convenience of having a game listed in your Steam library that big of a deal? Seemingly, for many, it could be.