Assassin's Creed Liberation HD Steam notice states game will become "inaccessible" from September
UPDATE: Ubisoft responds, will update Steam messaging.
UPDATE 5.45pm UK: Ubisoft has said that owners of Assassin's Creed Liberation HD will still be able to play and redownload the game after its servers shut down on 1st September.
The new statement, passed to Eurogamer this evening, appears to contradict the message visible today on the game's store page. This will now be changed.
Here's Ubisoft's statement in full:
"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 1st September, 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."
ORIGINAL STORY 10.15am UK: Ubisoft has warned that Assassin's Creed Liberation HD "will not be accessible" from 1st September onwards.
The game is now no longer available to purchase "at the request of the publisher", a warning notice on the game's Steam page states.
Silent Hunter 5, a submarine combat sim from Ubisoft, also has the same warning messages.
And, curiously, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands has a similar notice, though only for the game's Deluxe Edition and DLC.
Ubisoft's move to make this selection of games and DLC inaccessible follows the earlier announcement that Ubisoft was shutting down a raft of online services for older games.
That announcement went down poorly with fans - and indeed with one Ubisoft development studio. Anno 2070 maker Ubisoft Mainz since said it was attempting to patch its game so it remained possible to play after its servers were shut down.
Yet another Ubisoft game set to become inaccessible after 1st September is Space Junkies, which is one of the titles set to have its online servers switched off. As an online-only game, however, this does at least make some sense.
But what about Assassin's Creed Liberation HD? Eurogamer contacted Ubisoft for comment, and received the following statement on the publisher's earlier announcement of servers being shut down.
"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 1st September, 2022," an Ubisoft spokesperson told us.
"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."
We hope to hear more on Liberation HD specifically, and will update when we do.