Assassin's Creed Valhalla players have reacted with a mix of surprise and delight to an unannounced update that signals the arrival of Steam Achievements on Valve’s platform.
After Assassin's Creed Valhalla launched on Steam in December 2022, some two years after its original Epic Games Store PC exclusive release, players complained about a lack of Steam Achievements. At the time Ubisoft simply said Valhalla didn’t support Steam Achievements, and left it at that.
Now, two years later, Ubisoft has updated Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to finally add Steam Achievements. The update, visible via SteamDB but not yet live in-game, has already sparked a positive reaction from players. “Is old Ubisoft coming back?” wondered one player on the Steam forum. "I finally can play the checklist simulator with a checklist," declared another.
The Valhalla update comes amid Ubisoft’s high-profile return to Steam following years of Epic Games Store timed exclusivity for the PC versions of its games. The switch in policy was made following the poor performance of Star Wars Outlaws, which also skipped Steam at launch. Outlaws itself releases on Steam on November 21, 2024. Assassin’s Creed Mirage, meanwhile, launches on Steam later in October, a year after it launched exclusively on the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect on PC. Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches day-one on Steam on February 14, 2025.
Ubisoft's return to Steam comes amid a tumultuous year for the company that’s seen disappointing returns from Call of Duty competitor XDefiant and the aforementioned Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows into 2025 following lower than expected sales of Outlaws, and its staff have arranged a strike for later this month.
In its recent note to investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot acknowledged that the company's "second quarter fell short of expectations" and vowed to launch "a review aimed at further improving our execution." He also addressed some of the cultural conversations happening around Ubisoft lately, which have intensified around Star Wars Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Last week, Ubisoft’s founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent were said to be considering teaming up to take the company private following the collapse of its share price.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
