The Division 2 has more PC preorders than D1 despite skipping Steam

"Do you think even more AAA publishers will start skipping Steam as well?"

Sadly, yes, which makes it even worse that the epic exclusives are the least of my worries now. At least after a year, those might come to Steam, whereas the new Ubi and Bethesda games probably won't ever come to Steam. I'd switch to console gaming and only buy used so I'm not supporting the jerks, but, load times on ps4 are so freaking bad :(

Already we can see Bethesda trying it through fallout 76 and rage 2. Unfortunately I think it's going to be true for most of the games from now onwards

So, first they got money from Epic for the exclusivity deal, then people preordered from their store, which means they don't have to divide profits with anyone.
Epic win... for Ubisoft. And now, we can safely say goodbye to any chance to get their future releases on Steam.

As to whether other publishers might follow their example, it's hard to say, since Ubi's case is a rather specific one -they have their own store and make their games available on others-, so that would only apply to those with proprietary launchers/stores, like Bethesda, Rockstar, maybe EA...

Not a big issue right now, but it definitely sets a dangerous precedent in the industry.

I don't really mind. AAA games dropped in quality significantly in the past several years and indies are the way to go (innovations, mechanics, themes, prices, e.t.c. are superior and even graphics are AAA-level on some indy projects). That said AAA games are a significant source of income for Steam and it might hit Valve really hard, i wonder what will their reaction to that be, lowering the cut (possibly only for AAA titles, which would be disgusting and afaik they already did that to some extent)?

I always get Ubisoft games on Uplay because they need Uplay no matter where you get it anyway. Why double dip on DRM?

I play Ubisoft's games on their own platform anyway, so it doesn't change anything for me. As long as they still sell their games on GMG and other sites, I don't mind. Plus their download servers get me double the speed I get on steam, which is pretty helpful when all their major games are 20-80gb ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

yeah yeah sure :) isn't a way to sell games "hey look ! tons of people preorder the game ! come ! "
why ubisoft did a new offer with one game(in a list of three) free for pre order division 2 ? If you buy some amd stuff (gpu or cpu ) division 2 is free too .

D1 on steam and uplay: People buy on steam.
D2 on epic and uplay: people buy on uplay.

Uplay: A bit better choice than epic launcher, even if we're not Steam.

@LastM - How long it was displayed on steam, how long on epic?

Yeah... because Ubisoft games are known for selling great on Steam... and like UPlay doesn't exist or even that it's the main platform...

Look, I personally think that this isn't because of these retailer decisions. The Division was hated before release. Ubisoft was also hated. It wasn't an established franchise, MMOs were becoming less popular and everything about it looked fucking awful since it was shown when Ubisoft had a hard-on for simulated gameplay, where they had scripted gameplay while pretending it was natural.
The Division redeemed itself later.

If it didn't sell better even in these situations, then they'd be majorly fucked.

Good on them though. I bought The Division 1 and I have been having a whole lot of fun with it.

I saw that they are gifting a AAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, for buying the division 2, that, would clear the minds of those who doubt to buy the game or not, to a yes more than a no.

I bought The division 1 for 70€ (ps4) (pre-order, bad quality t-shirt of a man with a weapon that can't be seen clearly now...) but I won't be buying the division 2, not because is not in steam, but because I don't have a console anymore and I don't have the same time to play video games, ( When I play, I like to take my time to play those)

If users keep bombing the games with negative reviews with nonsense, it will be just worse for steam and their published games xD.

They did not provide any real numbers or actual sales figures. So, basically it is just a marketing, smart presentation trick.
Six times could be:
1k > 6k;
250k > 1.5M
Important part will be the actual sales (after release), it will determine which stores Ubi will pick in the future. However, it seems that right now, they have an agreement with Epic, so they have to put more games on Epic store (only a few games or all their games, that is a good question).

lol so well done Epic? And good luck with everything

I won't lie, I prefer to buy my Ubi games on the Ubi store when they have good prices, if only because then I can get DLC and season passes (and there are tons of them with Ubi) at resellers stores on nice discounts. If you buy on Steam, you're stuck with steam prices for DLC and they are not usually competitive.

they have fortnite for now but not forever if epic want to become a great store as steam, they need to make more epic games like valve done with steam in the beginning...
you cant attract people with only one game for infinite time...
in the other side when valve will back to doing games again that gonna hurt.

What I'm wondering is if they included the copies bundled with hardware as preorders. For the last 3 months you received a free copy if you bought any of the following:

1. Rx 590
2. Vega 56
3. Vega 64
4. Ryzen 5 2600
5. Ryzen 5 2600x
6. Ryzen 7 2700
7. Ryzen 7 2700x
8. Radeon VII

You can pick a free copy if you bought any of the following:

1. Rx 580
2. Rx 570

Welcome to Steam, the house of really old games, old hits and most indie crap.

Alright, here we go. Firstly, comparing the first game of a then unknown franchise (which was tainted even before release due to misleading E3 trailers) to its sequel of a now established franchise is beyond ridiculous. Secondly, they didn't disclose the number of pre-orders, which could mean it went from 100 to 600 or 1m to 6m. Thirdly, they are offering the game for free (and have been doing it for months) with the purchase of multiple AMD graphics cards, and they don't mention if these are included in their math or not. Fourthly, they are offering one of the three games for free with a pre-order of The Division 2: Ghost Recon Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2 and Far Cry Primal. Getting Ghost Recon Wildlands for free is a pretty sweet deal.

But yeah, I guess Steam is officially dead. Hail Epic. Hail Uplay.

View attached image.

More pre-orders in Uplay. That is true. The Division 1 the people pre-order in Steam. The Division 2 not be in Steam. The people pre-order in Uplay instead EPIC Store.

That is becouse The Division 2 has more the pre-order in Uplay than its predecessor in Uplay.

Which publisher might ditch Steam next?

no idea, like, zero.

what it seems to me is that Valve can stand for much more then three / five big publishers going elsewhere.
still, thinking Epic is doing things the -very- right way

I got division 2 with my RX590

unless steam will do something about they huge fees than yes, AAA publishers will go away

skip steam for all i care, not gonna play either way

This whole thing is starting to get me worried, I don't want it to become a situation where every publisher has their own launcher/client. Specially because every other store has some serious catch up to play when it comes to matching steam's functionality, and the only one that seems to be taking that part of "offering a better service" seriously is GOG.