Steam Users Unable to Play Major Star Wars Game

Steam users, and thus Steam Deck users as well, will be unable to play two major games when they release, including a highly-anticipated Star Wars game. For the past several years, Steam users have been increasingly tempted to download and use the Epic Games Store. The primary appeal of the digital storefront from Epic Games are the free games given out every week. The other major appeal is the exclusive games. Each year, Epic Games secures some exclusive games to entice Steam users over. And they aren't the only ones who do this. Ubisoft does this with its proprietary Ubisoft Connect as well. To this end, Ubisoft is locking two major PC games to its digital storefront.

The first of these two major releases is the upcoming Star Wars game, Star Wars Outlaws, which was announced at the Xbox Showcase earlier this month. And if you want to play the game at release on PC, you will need to buy it on Ubisoft Connect. As its release gets closer, more PC platforms could be be announced. And of course, the game could come to Steam and Epic Games Store sometime after launch, but right now if you're on PC and want to play the Star Wars game at release, you will need to use Ubisoft Connect.

"Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Explore distinct planets across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as Kay Vess, an emerging scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy's crime syndicates as you join the galaxy's most wanted.

All of this applies to a second Ubisoft game, incidentally, also being developed by Massive Entertainment: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Unlike Star Wars Outlaws, which is simply slated for a general 2024 release, the new Avatar game actually has a release date of December 7.

"Abducted by the human militaristic corporation known as the RDA, you, a Na'vi, were trained and molded to serve their purpose. Fifteen years later, you are free, but find yourself a stranger in your birthplace. Reconnect with your lost heritage, discover what it truly means to be Na'vi, and join other clans to protect Pandora from the RDA.

All of this information has been sourced straight from the official Ubisoft website. It's worth noting the information could be the result of a typo or another type of error, but there's currently no reason to believe this is the case. Ubisoft has locked PC versions of its games behind its own digital storefront in the past, so the idea it's potentially doing it again isn't very surprising.