Ubisoft Is Finally Letting Steam Players Ditch Ubisoft Connect

Ubisoft is testing a new way to launch its Steam games without requiring players to install or open the separate Ubisoft Connect PC client, according to Insider Gaming.

The change starts with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which will use a new Ubisoft Connect Services Steam tool to handle Ubisoft’s online features directly through Steam.

Ubisoft features will still work without the launcher

Removing the Ubisoft Connect app requirement does not mean Ubisoft is abandoning its online services.

The new Steam integration will continue supporting features such as cross-progression, cross-play, player safety tools, challenges, and rewards.

Players will still have access to these features, but they will no longer need to launch the standalone Ubisoft Connect application alongside Steam.

Ubisoft says the change should provide a smoother and more streamlined launch experience on Steam, removing an extra step that players previously had to go through before starting some Ubisoft titles.

For Steam users, this means supported Ubisoft games should behave more like titles that rely entirely on Steam for launching, even though Ubisoft’s underlying services will remain active.

More Ubisoft Steam games will follow

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is only the beginning.

Ubisoft says it plans to gradually expand the new system to additional games available on Steam, although the company has not revealed which titles will receive support next.

The move follows other recent changes involving Ubisoft’s distribution strategy.

Ubisoft previously opted out of Microsoft’s new disc-to-digital Xbox feature alongside several other publishers, but the company later changed direction, and more Ubisoft games now support the feature.

Meanwhile, Steam itself is introducing additional platform restrictions in some regions. In Australia, Valve has locked access to mature games behind credit card age verification, requiring users to prove they are at least 18 before accessing age-restricted content.