Ubisoft Games Launcher

[Erminia Scharnberg]

Hasnothing to do with being desperate and most likely Microsoft pulling strings. Maybe it was one of the things they promised the commission that they make a few game available on multiple launchers so that they dont have a monopoly over to many games or force people to use their launcher. The work and stuff they have to do to get OW and other games to different launchers is enormous. They dont do this because of money or because they need players. They do it to look better.

I wonder whether anyone has figured out how to patch Ubisoft games so that Ubisoft Connect/Uplay is not launched, given that the launcher is both unnecessary for many players' purposes as well as preventing a lot of players from playing the game.

Sometimes, games offer config files or allow for modifying the launch script to remove e.g. video intros to a game. Is there any similar option that will allow for playing their games without the launcher?

(BTW, I do own a legit copy and am highly frustrated by the launcher.)

Like I'm pretty sure for any Ubi game that uses matchmaking, the matchmaking goes trough uplay, and would crash if Uplay is not present. Or in Assassins Creed, all their cash shop (even if I personally hate it) goes through Uplay.

There was a recent update and it appears to have broken any games from running that use Ubisoft Connect. I was too tired to bother with it last night. I figured I would post here and see if there is a solution for it.

I only know about this from a friend. He was livid when this happened as he streams on Twitch. The Valve team seemed to have jumped right on it and found a workaround for it. Thankfully it only took a day or two.

It amazes me how many times they manage to break things with every update they do. All of these launchers just give gamers on PC more headaches and allow these publishers to basically crack down on privacy and push marketing/sales on players.

Rumor has it Ubisoft Connect sales are tanking. They seem to make little to no effort to even attempt to test these updates for Linux or Proton which disregards so many players. I have seen nothing but growing communities of hatred for Ubisoft. They rival EA at this point.

Thanks for posting this. I did end up finding the information the next day after a bit of digging but I appreciate the help. So many of these game development companies are really testing my patience these days.

Ubisoft Connect (formerly Ubisoft Game Launcher and later Uplay) is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications service developed by Massive Entertainment to provide an experience similar to the achievements/trophies offered by various other game companies. The service is provided across various platforms. Ubisoft Connect is used exclusively by first-party Ubisoft Entertainment games, and although some third-party ones are sold through the Ubisoft store, they do not use the Ubisoft Connect platform.

Ubisoft Connect serves as a combination of a free reward system (formerly Ubisoft Club) and online profile system for players of Ubisoft games. While playing Ubisoft games, players can complete in-game achievements which earn points towards their profile. They can then redeem these points for in-game content across many Ubisoft games, typically as cosmetic items which can otherwise be purchased through microtransactions. Players can also maintain friend lists which will be used in various games to help with matchmaking or tied with certain in-game features.

The Ubisoft Connect client on personal computers also serves as a storefront and digital download management tool. Players can purchase Ubisoft games through its storefront and manage downloads and updates of games. The client also maintains digital rights management (DRM) for Ubisoft games, and is required to be run for any Ubisoft game, even if the game is purchased on a different storefront such as through Steam or the Epic Games Store.

An optional subscription service, Ubisoft+ (formerly Uplay+), allows subscribers to have access to Ubisoft's full library of games as well as immediate access to its newest games and closed beta tests for upcoming games.

The Uplay reward system was first introduced alongside the release of Assassin's Creed II on 17 November 2009.[1] The Uplay reward system allowed players to connect with other gamers, and to earn rewards based on achievements (called "Actions") in Uplay-enabled games, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stating that "the more you play, the more free goods you will be able to have".[2][3]

On personal computers, Ubisoft had offered its Ubisoft Game Launcher to manage the downloads and updating of its games. The Uplay client was introduced on 3 July 2012 to replace the launcher, incorporating its features as well as management of Uplay rewards and a digital storefront for Ubisoft games.[4]

Certain Ubisoft games required an online pass known as a "Uplay Passport" to access online and multiplayer content. In October 2013, Ubisoft announced that it would discontinue its use of online passes on future games, and made the Uplay Passport for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag available at no charge effective immediately.[5]

Uplay+, a monthly subscription service giving the subscriber full access to over 100 games in the Ubisoft catalog including immediate access to new games and closed beta tests, was introduced during E3 2019.[6] Uplay+ launched on September 3, 2019 in beta form, with full expansion in early 2020. The service was offered both through the Uplay store, as will be an option for Stadia users.[7][8][9]

In October 2020, Uplay and the Ubisoft Club were merged into Ubisoft Connect, which would offer the same features but also enable current and future Ubisoft games to support cross-saves and cross-play between platforms, and support for cloud gaming platforms including Stadia and Amazon Luna. However, Ubisoft said that several of the older games in the UPlay library will not be transitioned to support Ubisoft Connect's features, and thus they unlocked all the Uplay rewards associated with these games for all users.[10] As part of Ubisoft's transition from Uplay to Ubisoft Connect, the Uplay+ service was rebranded as Ubisoft+ in October 2020, with its offering expanded to include the Amazon Luna cloud gaming platform.[11]

In July 2023, it was reported that Ubisoft had started to permanently delete accounts it deemed "inactive", including purchased games. The company said that this was incorrect and that only accounts without purchases were deleted to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation.[12][13][14]

Early reception of Uplay with reviewers and the public had been largely negative, primarily related to the use of DRM. Early games that incorporated Uplay required players to maintain a constant connection to the internet, and if the connection was lost during gameplay, the game would halt, sending users back to their last checkpoint or save depending on the specific game.[15] The scheme quickly came under fire after a denial-of-service attack on Ubisoft's DRM servers in early March 2010 rendered Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin's Creed II unplayable for several days.[16] The always-on requirement was quietly lifted for existing Uplay games towards the end of 2010, being changed to a single validation on game launch.[17] However, the always-on requirement made a return in 2011 with the releases of Driver: San Francisco[18] and From Dust, the latter having been explicitly stated by Ubisoft prior to release to only require a one-time online activation on install.[19] From Dust was later patched to remove the always-on requirement.[20] In September 2012 Ubisoft employees confirmed in an interview that no further Ubisoft games would be using the always-on requirement, instead opting for a one-time activation of the game on install. However The Crew, released in 2014, required the player to be always online in order to play.[21]

In July 2012 Tavis Ormandy, an Information Security Engineer at Google, claimed that "Uplay" DRM is a rootkit and poses a serious security risk. The software installs a browser plugin that provides access to the system.[29][30] Ormandy has written proof-of-concept code for the exploit. The exploit is believed to have been fixed as of version 2.0.4, released on 30 July 2012.[31][32][33]

The Ubisoft Club (initially known as Uplay Club) was introduced in October 2015, which transitioned most of the reward system facets of Uplay to this program, as well as adding further ways for players to earn points towards rewards by playing Ubisoft games.[34]

Last night was a restless one for the Steam Deck. In addition to a huge client update for the handheld PC, Valve pushed out a Proton Experimental update to fix a crashing problem with games that use the Ubisoft Connect launcher on Steam.

The Steam Deck has been a huge hit for Valve, opening up the world to PC gaming on a portable console style PC. They're great little machines that make wonderful travelling companions. Whether you're headed to a bar or 2,500 ft above the surface of the Earth, the Steam Deck is ready to go. That is, unless you wanted to play some Ubisoft titles.

A new update for the Ubisoft Connect launcher completely stuffed launching Steam games on Linux platforms. According to GamingOnLinux, trying to launch any Ubi titles on desktop Linux or Steam Deck resulted in an unrecoverable error popup from Ubisoft Connect. From there all you could do is click OK and accept you're not getting on for that Division raid tonight.

Thankfully now there is a bit of a fix, using Proton Experimental. This is the testing version of Proton, the compatibility layer that allows Linux to run Steam games made for Windows. Here you get access to some upcoming features before they're necessarily stable.

First, Proton developers implemented a fix into the downloadable "bleeding-edge" beta for Proton Experimental, and now Valve has released a Proton Experimental fix that does not require opting into the beta.

3a8082e126