Even LESS transparency from the video game industry? I'm SHOCKED I tell you. SHOCKED!!! Ok, maybe not that shocked...
A wild new rumored leak from an insider to the FandomPulse exposes Ubisoft’s 'dissatisfaction' with Valve and Steam for displaying concurrent player counts on its platform. Currently - this transparency is readily available to all through Steam’s tracking tools for third party websites like steamdb.
The problem with it? Welp... it publicly embarrasses the performance of many of Ubisoft’s titles, like Star Wars Outlaws, to gamers, journalists, and investors - everyone—much to the company’s dismay. Can't have that now, can we?
According to the insider, Ubisoft is now actively seeking to pressure Steam to discontinue its player count tracking.
“Ubisoft and other companies want to pressure Steam to stop the tracker from giving out info they want to keep to themselves”
The insider explained that the concern stems from Ubisoft’s desire to control how its games’ performance metrics are presented, especially to investors.
“They want to be able to present findings to investors so they can make it sound good”
The insider alleged that their efforts here are tied to the... underwhelming (to be kind) sales figures, with Star Wars Outlaws reportedly failing to reach 2 million copies sold—a massive shortfall given Ubisoft’s own admission that AAA games require significant sales to recoup costs. Upwards of 4-5 million to even break even.
During a recent interview at XDS24, Ubisoft's Assassin’s Creed Executive Producer Marc-Alexis Côté revealed that the break-even point for many AAA titles falls between 8 to 12 million units.
“The reason I’m quoting the 10 million copies kind of mark is from what I’ve seen and how I’ve seen costs, our costs, and costs of competitors... Everything leaks in our industry, so you have privileged information on where the competition is going. But mostly I estimate that 10 million copies, give or take 2 million, is mostly what you need to break even. But you have only 10 games that breach that every year.”
When you add this context to the situation, it paints quite the dire picture for Star Wars Outlaws. If Ubisoft’s sales figure guestimate/requirements are accurate, the game’s inability to cross even the 2-million mark exposes a significant financial loss for the company, making Steam’s visibility into concurrent player counts an uncomfortable reminder of this struggle... Taking that all into account, it makes sense that they don't want to be so publicly embarrassed. I dunno... Maybe the best way to fix this shortfall is TO REMOVE DEI AND MAKE BETTER GAMES. Crazy, I know.. But just a thought.
The trend toward hiding weak performance metrics isn’t unique to Ubisoft these days. Other major entertainment industries, like streaming services and comics, have adopted a similar style of 'new age' reporting practices. For instance, Marvel and DC Comics transitioned to distribution methods that obscure retailer sales, while Netflix now defines “views” by using confusing metrics such as “total stream time divided by runtime available.”
Or looking over at YouTube removing the dislike button, without providing users with a legitimate explanation. Ubisoft trying to remove Steam’s tracking tools aligns with this broader trend of controlling narratives around success and failure... and removing visibility to customers. They don't want you to know anything. Just consume. Stop questioning.
They wish they could pull Black Myth: Wukong numbers... Then they wouldn't have an issue with the info being publicly available!
Shout out once again to FandomPulse for the scoop. This is just wild... But this day in age... not surprising.
~Smash
