Assassin’s Creed Liberation’s Steam page suggests it will soon be unplayable – even for owners
Update: Ubisoft tells VGC Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD will remain playable after September 1
Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD will no longer be playable on PC as of September 1, according to its Steam listing.
The game has already been removed from sale, and according to a message on its Steam page, it seems players will no longer be able to even boot the game from September onwards.
“At the request of the publisher, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is no longer available for sale on Steam,” the notice says. “Please note this title will not be accessible following September 1st, 2022.”
Last week Ubisoft included Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD as part of a list of games that it said would soon be losing online functionality and access to DLC.
However, it now appears that the entire game itself will be inaccessible following September 1.
By comparison, Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood were also featured in the same list, along with a similar warning that they would lose online functionality and DLC access.
https://twitter.com/nors3/status/1546202942772051968?s=21&t=gQAE9iL3a0Kl01uqZ8aKxw
However, neither game’s Steam page makes mention of any plan to make the entire game inaccessible, suggesting Liberation HD could be a unique case.
Update #1
Ubisoft gave VGC the following statement regarding its recent run of decommissioned games:
“We don’t take the decision to retire services for older Ubisoft games lightly, and our teams are currently assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022.
“We are also working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts, so players will be fully informed about the removal of online services at the point of purchase as well as via our support article where we shared the news.”
Update #2
Ubisoft has issued a follow-up statement to VGC, which implies Steam’s information is incorrect and that Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD will remain playable after September 1. It said:
“As stated in our support article, only DLCs and online features will be affected by the upcoming decommissioning. Current owners of those games will still be able to access, play or redownload them.
“Our teams are working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts and are also assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022.
“It has always been our intention to do everything in our power to allow those legacy titles to remain available in the best possible conditions for players, and this is what we are working towards.”
A remastered version of Liberation was included as part of 2019’s Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, and there’s no suggestion that access to this will be removed.
As such, it appears that the only way for people who own Liberation HD on Steam to play the game after September 1 will be to buy Assassin’s Creed III Remastered and start from scratch with Liberation Remastered.
Further reading
Ubisoft is shutting down multiplayer for 15 ‘older’ games, and even ‘access to some DLC’
Liberation was a spin-off that was originally released on the PlayStation Vita 2012, before being remade as Liberation HD in 2014 for consoles and PC. It’s this version that will be removed from Steam.
The game is notable for being the first Assassin’s Creed to not only feature a female protagonist, but make that protagonist a strong female of colour. As such, it’s noted for being an example of positive ethnic minority representation in video games.
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