Valve and the Steam platform’s position in the PC market appears unshakable, but recent inside information clearly reveals the methods the company uses to defend its monopoly. Bloomberg published a meticulous confidential report on a secret battle with Ubisoft, where the stumbling block was the wildly popular Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Players were miraculously lucky not to lose access to the shooter.
Steam’s Ultimatum: Why Ubisoft Had to Cede
The whole drama unfolded several years ago, when the French publisher was actively pumping exclusives into its own UPlay launcher (the same service that was rebuilt as Ubisoft Connect in 2020). To lure audiences to its home platform, the company launched an incredibly generous sale on the tactical hit for direct buyers.
Naturally, the owners of the largest PC store quickly noticed. Valve’s response was swift and extremely harsh. The platform issued a clear ultimatum to the French: either immediately equalize the prices on both platforms, or completely remove the game from the catalog within 24 hours. No options.
For Ubisoft, such a ban would be a complete financial nightmare. By 2024, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege had generated astronomical profits for the studio, confidently maintaining its status as its main cash cow. And although the publisher has a stable native client, Steam still supplies the lion’s share of online traffic, ensuring a steady peak of 75,000 active players daily. Wasting such a huge pool of active players for a one-time promotion to attract players to its launcher? Absolutely unthinkable.
