Ubisoft and Valve reportedly had a dispute years ago over a starter bundle. The studio’s most successful game almost got removed from Steam because of this.
Which game is it about? Rainbow Six: Siege. It has been known for some years that the tactical shooter is the most financially successful game from Ubisoft. Already in a financial report from 2024, it was revealed that the tactical shooter has generated over 3.5 billion euros since its release – almost as much as the entire Assassin’s Creed game series.
In Rainbow Six: Siege, two teams of 5 players compete against each other in tactically driven PvP matches. The objective of the main game mode is to eliminate all opponents or defuse a bomb before time runs out. For this, players can choose from a pool of playable characters who have different weapons, abilities, and gadgets to prepare the map in their favor.
Threat with Deadline
This is behind Valve’s threat: According to a report from the business magazine Bloomberg, employees from Valve reportedly threatened Ubisoft at an unspecified time regarding Rainbow Six: Siege to completely remove the shooter from Steam. This is indicated by several emails.
The reason for Valve’s alleged threat was a discounted bundle that was only offered in Ubisoft’s in-house launcher Uplay (now Ubisoft Connect). Specifically, it was about a starter pack for $15.
The emails also implied a deadline by which Ubisoft should address the issue. Bloomberg quotes the wording “by the end of tomorrow.”
Rainbow Six: Siege is still playable on Steam today and recorded an average of 60,000 concurrent players in May (via SteamCharts)
Why is this relevant? A lawsuit against Valve is currently ongoing in the UK with a dispute value of around 754 million euros. The company is accused of abusing its dominance in the gaming market. It is said that Steam imposes restrictive conditions on game publishers and binds players to the use of the distribution platform.
In the context of the lawsuit, Valve is also accused of having prevented publishers from offering their games cheaper on other platforms. The dispute with Ubisoft could strengthen this accusation.
However, the Bloomberg report also mentions other comparable situations. For example, Wolfire Games was allegedly not allowed to offer the game Overgrowth at discounted prices on Humble Bundle, and in the game Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Valve removed the pre-order option on Steam because the price there was higher than with other retailers.
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