Epic's recently launched digital store is picking up steam, so to speak. Ubisoft has officially confirmed that its upcoming Tom Clancy entry The Division 2 will skip Steam and instead be offered through Epic Games and its online store.
Both companies' partnership extends beyond the Tom Clancy title, as Ubisoft plans to bring its other PC games to the Epic Games Store as well.
The Division 2 Is Skipping Steam
As such, The Division 2 won't be heading to Steam at all. Players can get a physical copy or buy it from either Ubisoft's online storefront or the Epic Games Store. Ubisoft previously featured a product page for the game on Steam, which is now unsurprisingly nowhere to be found. Asked whether Ubisoft will change its mind down a the line, a spokesperson said, as Polygon reports:
"We have no plans currently on releasing Tom Clancy's The Division 2 on Steam."
Other Ubisoft Games
As for the other titles, Ubisoft and Epic only said that they'll "also partner on additional select titles [coming to the Epic Games Store] to be announced during the coming year." Ubisoft added that it plans to fulfill preorders for The Division 2 made at other online stores prior to the game's launch on March 15.
Suffice it to say that having semi-exclusive distribution privileges for The Division 2 is a boon for the Epic Games Store, which promised this past December that it would start poaching more exclusives going forward. Epic has already struck deals with a few independent developers to bring their games exclusively to the Epic Games Store, including The Walking Dead: The Final Season and a few more others. The Division 2 is a major Ubisoft release, and the fact that it'll be skipping Steam represents a burgeoning war on the distribution of title exclusives between digital storefronts.
"We entrust Epic to deliver a smooth journey for our fans, from preordering the game and enjoying our Beta to the launch of Tom Clancy's The Division 2 on March 15," said Chris Early, Ubisoft's VP of partnerships. "Epic continues to disrupt the video game industry, and their third party digital distribution model is the latest example, and something Ubisoft wants to support."
Early is, of course, referring to Epic's radical business model of giving 88 percent of all total game sales to developers, meaning it only has a 12 percent cut of profits, far more generous than Steam's 70-30 split. Valve revised that recently in such a way that if a game makes more money, the revenue stream increases in the developer's favor. Still, it doesn't match what Epic is offering.
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 comes out March 15 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Those who preorder get access to a private beta version of the game.
