Ubisoft Reportedly Asking Steam To Hide Player Count After Star Wars Outlaws Failure

See full bio

Abdullah Waseem

At T4G, my task is to cover the latest news around the gaming globe ASAP and with the utmost precision. I adore all the games and respect all the devs behind the amazing games that we get all year. So, whether it’s a PC or a Console game, I got it all covered. 

See full bio

Ubisoft doesn’t seem to be catching a breath as it has constantly been a part of various controversies for the past few years. This time the company is reportedly pressurizing Steam into removing player count tools after Star Wars Outlaws’ failure. 

Why it matters? The company had hoped its return to Steam would attract a lot of players who weren’t comfortable with other launchers. However, even on Steam, Outlaws couldn’t even get 1000 players at launch. 

According to a new video from Smash JT, Ubisoft isn’t happy with Steam for allowing third-party sites like SteamDB to access the player counting tools. It is reportedly forcing Steam to remove the tools so that the public can’t see the figures. 

Ubisoft and other companies want to pressure Steam to stop the tracker from giving out info they want to keep to themselves

Ubisoft and a few more unnamed companies want to present their findings to investors to make it sound good. Star Wars Outlaws reportedly managed to sell less than 2 million copies so far, and the launch numbers are very underwhelming. 

During the recent XDS24 keynote, Ubisoft’s executive producer stated that AAA games need to sell at least 10 million copies to recoup costs. That is his experience from the games they develop. 

And as things stand, Star Wars Outlaws will in no way sell this many copies. The game has also led to Ubisoft’s stocks falling to their worst in many years. The company must be hoping Assaassin’s Creed Shadows will save it. 

But, things look dire there too as even the game’s devs think that it is the worst game they’ve ever seen. So, it is understandable that Ubisoft would be against the idea of showing the player count to avoid public humiliation. 

What are your thoughts on Ubisoft forcing Steam to remove player count tools? Let us know your opinion in the comments or join the discussion at the official Tech4Gamers Forum. 

Abdullah Waseem

News Reporter

Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.