Ubisoft has quietly pulled Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag from Steam

MazonnaCara89@lemmy.ml to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 211 points –
Ubisoft has quietly pulled Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag from Steam
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I've got quite a collection of games you can no longer buy,everyone else 🏴‍☠️

I would love to get Ruse on Steam, man.

Wait that's not on steam anymore? Is there an easy way to find what in your library can't be purchased anymore?

Yeah, it was the same for me. I loved playing the demo on the PS3 back in the days. You can actually get it from key resellers which is what I did. However, I think they sell for about 80€ or so which is insane. I thought it was expensive when I bought it for 30€.

Anyone who still financially supports Ubisoft is at their own fault at this point.

Haha, they're pulling Black Flag so so that Skull & Bones has less competition.

Nah... I would guess a remaster or something at some point. The skull&bones game has been dead for a long time...they will release it as they legally have to...but they will not give a crap after.

I saw my wife playing this years ago, and always fancied having a go, but never got around to it.

So a few months back we got it going so it could stream to our Apple TV and off I went. Spent a few weeks playing it in the evenings and having a nice time.

Then Ubisoft put out an 'update' to it, that broke it completely. A massive update for a ten year old game. Cunts.

So I guess I'll never finish it, because fuck Ubisoft.

Not really an advocate for piracy but I wouldn't have any qualms about recommending that route to you.

Is it piracy? He owns a license for the game.

Are Ubisoft or Rockstart Games pirates for using scene cracks themselves?

Is it piracy? He owns a license for the game.

Technically it's not.

They don't even need a new copy of the game, just the cracked .exe file.

Are Ubisoft or Rockstart Games pirates for using scene cracks themselves?

Arguably so, as they did not get the scene group's permission to redistribute their works.

I wouldn't stress it; you didn't miss much. Like every modern Ubisoft title, the game was very repetitive. You had enough playtime to see everything the game had to offer.

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Yeah but why? Does it cost money to keep the game available?

Perhaps to make people pay for the new one.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

That makes no sense. Black Flag is a completely different genre to modern AC.

Didn't you read the post? They are probably doing a remaster or remake and don't want people to buy the old version...

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

That would only make sense if you a) had a competing product on the market or b) at the very least actually announced one. The remaster/remake is a mere rumour, we don't even know if there's substance behind it.

Opportunity cost, possibly. They might be remastering it and wish to sell it at a higher cost, or think they can get more money through a different retailer.

That game seems pretty loved, I wouldn't be that surprised about a remaster. Though it would have to be a pretty barebones if it can't compete with a ten year old release.

A lot of publishers remove the original game when they release a 'remaster'. Burnout Paradise, Metro Last Light, etc

Hosting your game on steam is indeed not free, and the price can vary greatly. It may not be the reason of the removal though

Had to look it up for curiosity's sake.

In order to get fully set up, you will need to pay a $100.00 fee for each product you wish to distribute on Steam (the "Steam Direct Fee").... This fee is not refundable, but will be recoupable in the payment made after your product has at least $1,000.00 Adjusted Gross Revenue for Steam Store and in-app purchases. Steamworks Partner Program

While not free, seems to be no overhead for the length of stay on Steam that I can see. Another site includes some more description which might add to the cost though

The cost to put a game on Steam depends on the type of game, the development budget [1], and the business model. To get a game onto Steam, developers need to pay a one-time registration fee of $100. After that, they will need to pay a 30% royalty fee. Additionally, developers may need to pay for marketing and other costs associated with the release of their game. source

Regardless, it's just another unfortunate case of physical copies/backups>subscriptions or "licensing/rent" deals.

So steam basically is using a cut of a games sales to pay for hosting.

I pirated it anyway. I owned a PS4 copy, pirated it on PC, played on both and greatly enjoyed myself both times, and sold the copy to second hand reseller (Cex) that I buy all my games from. I neevr pay full price and never support the industry. The only digital copies of games I have are either ones that were free for a time, or ones that are free forever. Until the gaming industry stops releasing half-finished products, and stops overworking their employees, I will keep on not passing my financial support their way.

Interestingly the game is downloading for me. I have had it in my library for some time now.

Is it saying its been pulled for new sales only?

Pulling a game from the steam store does not stop people from downloading it if already in their library.