Ubisoft is reportedly pressuring Steam to get rid of its concurrent player count feature following the disastrous launch of Star Wars: Outlaws on the platform.

This story was first broken by Fandom Pulse, citing an inside source close to Ubisoft that alleged that the company sees such a public display of its failures as embarrassing in front of both players and investors.

A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft

“Ubisoft and other companies want to pressure Steam to stop the tracker from giving out info they want to keep to themselves,” the source told Fandom Pulse. ““They want to be able to present findings to investors so they can make it sound good.”

In other words, Steam’s transparency makes it difficult for Ubisoft to lie. 

Take Star Wars: Outlaws as a prime example of this phenomenon at work. The troubled title has reportedly failed to move two million copies worldwide across all platforms. It debuted last week on Steam and many wondered if the deeply unpopular game would find its audience on PC.

It did not.

A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft

Ubisoft typically tries to work some revisionist history magic when it suffers a massive failure. For example, in response to the “soft” sales for Outlaws, it attempted to tout critical response and review scores that favor the title.

Ubisoft went as far as to describe this disastrous roll out as the birth of one of “the most immersive expressions of the Star Wars universe ever created.” To an investor, that can sound impressive and inspire the false confidence Ubisoft needs right now.

However, due to Steam’s transparency, investors can clearly see how many people are playing the game. There’s no spin possible. And in the case of Star Wars: Outlaws, the public results tell a very clear story.

The concurrent player count for Star Wars: Outlaws on Steam failed to reach 2,500 players in its debut weekend – Steam

To be frank, the game bombed in its debut weekend, falling short of 2,500 concurrent players on Steam. The title is also already listed at 25% off in the Steam store, which tells you everything you need to know about how Star Wars: Outlaws is selling. It’s currently ranked 66 on the Steam Best Sellers list. That’s not what you’d expect from a game with “Star Wars” in the title.

Ubisoft has admitted in the past that to achieve profitability, Triple A games need to sell somewhere around four or five million copies. That means, if the two million sales figure is true, not only has Outlaws failed to turn a profit, it was never anywhere close.

A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft

If the rumors are true, it would seem unlikely that Steam would give in to pressure from Ubisoft. The gaming community would be incensed at such an act, as concurrent player counts give gamers an idea of what new games are popular and worthy of a look.

Steam allows players to try out new games and return them for a full refund if they have less than two hours of gameplay logged. That means the concurrent player count acts as a gateway to a risk-free purchase that Steam should not be willing to give up.

Do you think Ubisoft is right in tryin to get rid of Steam concurrent player counts? Sound off and let us know your thoughts!