A major development in the newly ongoing online video game storefront war has been announced. Earlier today, Ubisoft and Epic Games announced that Ubisoft’s highly anticipated shooter, The Division 2, will release exclusively on Ubisoft’s Uplay Store and the Epic Games Store on PC.
Thus, The Division 2 is set to be one of the first major Triple A games to forego the massive PC online storefront Steam in favor of Epic’s new store. Those who have already preordered the game via a different online storefront like Steam will still be able to receive their copies from those retailers. However, once the game releases, it will only be available on Ubisoft’s and Epic Games’ stores.
This decision comes off the back of the two companies partnering up to bring a variety of “select titles” from Ubisoft to Epic Games’ new storefront over the course of the year. In regards to the partnership, Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney stated, “As long-time fans and partners of Ubisoft, we’re thrilled to bring a range of awesome Ubisoft games to the Epic Games store.”
Sweeney also credited the Epic Games Store’s 88/12 revenue split as to why this massive partnership is happening. In response, Ubisoft stated that Epic’s “third party digital distribution model” is something the company wants to support. The two massive companies are also looking to “integrate key components of Ubisoft’s Uplay and Epic’s online services” to allow “more seamless social features and interoperability” for players of the game.
As online storefronts are adjusting their revenue sharing in the face of competition, exclusives are becoming even more important. The Division 2 now joins the likes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Journey, and Hades as exclusives to the Epic Games Store. The Division 2 is set for release on March 15, 2019 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
You can check out the PC features trailer for The Division 2 below: