Ubisoft Is Making Its Games Work Better on Steam by Letting You Uninstall Connect

Ubisoft is testing a solution to eliminate one of PC gaming’s most persistent annoyances: the requirement to launch the Ubisoft Connect launcher when playing Ubisoft games on Steam. The publisher has announced a new “Ubisoft Connect Services Steam Tool” that maintains Ubisoft-specific features—including cross-progression, cross-play, player safety, challenges, and rewards—without requiring the Ubisoft Connect launcher to be installed or launched.

Beginning with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft will test this approach on Steam. The company described the initiative as “an initial step toward a smoother and more streamlined launch experience,” with plans to expand it to additional titles if the trial proves successful.

This addresses a long-standing frustration among PC gamers: the need to use one launcher (Steam) to access another launcher (Ubisoft Connect) before playing a game. While Ubisoft Connect is not universally despised, the extra friction has annoyed players who simply want to launch their games directly from Steam.

Ubisoft is not alone in requiring proprietary launchers—EA and Rockstar Games employ similar practices—but this represents a significant step toward streamlining the experience. If successful, the rollout to more games could represent a meaningful quality-of-life improvement for PC gamers and potentially pressure other publishers to follow suit.

The announcement was made in a Steam post visible only to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown owners, which initially made the news difficult to verify across gaming media.

Sources

• Ubisoft Is Making Its Games Work Better on Steam by Letting You Uninstall Connect
• Ubisoft Steam games to no longer require the Connect launcher, in “initial step toward a smoother and more streamlined launch experience”
• Ubisoft Games Will No Longer Need Ubisoft Connect to Launch on Steam
• Ubisoft is ’testing’ making its games far less annoying to launch on Steam
• Ubisoft games on Steam may soon no longer require the pesky Connect launcher, according to an announcement post that’s weirdly tough to pin down
• Ubisoft is removing its launcher from Prince of Persia on Steam, pledging to cut ‘Ubisoft Connect’ from more games “in the future”