Requiescat in pace
[Update: “We don’t take the decision to retire services for older Ubisoft games lightly,” says Ubisoft in a statement to multiple news outlets. “Our teams are currently assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022.”]
Ubisoft has quietly removed 2014 release Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD from the Steam platform, rendering the title inaccessible for purchase. Furthermore, the Steam page is also apparently suggesting that, as of September 1, players who have previously purchased the spin-off title will no longer be able to play it.
Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is a remastered edition of the 2012 release Assassin’s Creed Liberation, which is itself a spin-off of Assassin’s Creed III. Set against the backdrop of Louisana in the 18th century, the title is particularly noteworthy for being the only game in the series to feature a Black woman protagonist — Aveline de Grandpré — who battles against American slavers as well as the series’ primary antagonist, the Templar Knights.
Ubisoft is yet to offer an explanation for the title’s removal, though it is speculated by fans that it may be for technical reasons. Ubisoft games are also noted for their strong DRM and connectivity licenses, given life through services such as the publisher’s Uplay service. While Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is hardly at the top of the majority of players’ “must-own” lists in 2022, fans are obviously concerned that its removal could set a precedent for more titles to be pulled from accounts in the future — citing last week’s news that Sony would be removing paid movie content from certain PlayStation accounts.
The Assassin’s Creed community has taken to the Steam forums and Reddit to voice their concerns to the company, although it has also been discovered that Liberation can be launched from within Assassin’s Creed III proper. So this could potentially be a case of the spin-off title being removed as a singular entity from the Steam store, that will continue to live on as in-game DLC for the main release.
We will be sure to update this article if any further clarity is offered by Ubisoft or Steam.
