Ubisoft breaks Steam Deck compatibility with Connect launcher update

Valve fixes Ubisoft’s mess – Ubisoft Connect update breaks Linux/Steam Deck game compatibility

While many third party developers have returned to Steam in recent years, almost all of them have added their newest games to Steam with a 3rd party launcher added on. In effect, their games launch their own 3rd party launcher though Steam (albeit in the background), and then run their games as normal. This is what happens with both EA and Ubisoft games, and these design decisions are wreaking havoc with Linux and Steam Deck when these 3rd party launchers are updated. 

Ubisoft has become the newest developer to break the Steam Deck compatibility of their games by updating their Ubisoft Connect launcher, making games like Ghost Recon Breakpoint, The Division 2, Watch Dogs Legion, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla unplayable on Steam Deck/Linux. Thankfully, Valve and the creators of Proton have quickly created fixes for these compatibility problems, though these problems have highlighted how problematic 3rd party launchers are for gamers on Linux and Steam Deck.

The latest versions of Proton’s experimental version now support Ubisoft’s newly updated Connect launcher, making their games compatible with SteamOS/Linux once more. 

(Ubisoft released a Steam Deck specific patch in January, and then broke it with a launcher update weeks later)

While EA and Ubisoft have returned to Steam, their games are simply running from their own launchers with Steam added as an extra step. For gamers, the use of the EA App and Ubisoft Connect on Steam games is nothing but a hassle, but don’t expect either publisher to release native Steam games anytime soon. If EA and Ubisoft can rely on Valve and the developers of Proton to fix their compatibility problems, they have no incentive to fix these problems directly be removing their 3rd party game launchers from Steam. 

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