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TO UPDATE
Ubisoft has clarified that the decommissioning of Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD on Steam will only affect online features and DLC and that once the process is complete, players will still be able to access the games they have purchased.
“As stated in our support article, only DLCs and online features are affected by the upcoming decommissioning. Current owners of these games can continue to access, play, or re-download them,” the publisher said in a statement to VG247.
“Our teams are working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts and are also reviewing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games go offline on September 1, 2022. It has always been our intention to do everything in our power to ensure that these legacy titles remain available in the best possible conditions for players and we are working towards that.”
Ubisoft and Steam have updated the language on the site to reflect this. The Steam page, which previously said “Please note that this title will no longer be available after September 1st, 2022,” now reads: “DLC for this product and online items and features will be available from will no longer be available after September 1, 2022. The base game will still be available and playable.”
Ubisoft further clarifies the use of the word “decomissioned” in the sense of its digital products in its dedicated support article, which you can consult at the link.
So, TL;DR, if you already own the game and the DLCs for these other games, you can access and re-download them after September 1st. However, the titles are not available for purchase for new customers.
ORIGINAL STORY: Assassin’s Creed Liberation removed from Steam listing, soon to be inaccessible even to players who bought it
You may remember Assassin’s Creed Liberation: The only game in the series with a black female protagonist, it was originally released for the PlayStation Vita in 2012 and was remastered in HD in 2014 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
But even if you bought the title at some point in the past, it looks like you won’t be able to play it anytime soon. According to a note on the game’s Steam page, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD “will be inaccessible after September 1, 2022.” This is true regardless of whether you bought it or not. It has already been removed.
That means if at any point in the game’s life you’ve decided to buy it through Steam, you’ll no longer be able to access and play this single-player title as of September. Even a cursory glance at online forums and social media shows just how unpopular this idea is.
Yes, you can still access a version of the game through Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered, but it’s not the standalone version of the game that you might otherwise have paid for. The game was also part of a bundle during the Steam Summer Sale – some players have reported that they bought the game during the sale and are unable to play it (and that other games have also had their DLC removed). ).
Others are concerned that this will set a precedent for digital game ownership and that other publishers may be inspired to follow suit in the future. With consumers already having concerns about digital rights to games after they were delisted, this latest move sends a worrying message.
“We do not take the decision to end services for legacy Ubisoft games lightly, and our teams are currently evaluating all available options for players who will be impacted when these games end online services on September 1, 2022 Ubisoft told VG247 when asked for comment.
“We are also working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts so players are fully aware of the online service removal upon purchase as well as through our support article where we shared the news.” The editor has indicated that he will notify us when there is an update to his prepared notes specific to exemption.
As for Liberation itself, the game is something of a meta-narrative about the world of Assassin’s Creed, with the title released to the public by Abstergo Industries as a propaganda tool to show that the war between Assassins and Templars isn’t entirely such is black and white as some would have us believe. It’s certainly an oddity and – in my eyes at least – far more interesting than Assassin’s Creed 3 (the game that released it as a supplement at the time).
