Ubisoft Games Like Assassin’s Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction Currently Unplayable on Steam, According to Player Reports
Numerous frustrated players have reported that several Ubisoft games are currently unplayable on Steam, with affected titles including entries from the Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell series.
Overnight, a wave of complaints began appearing online, particularly on platforms like Reddit, claiming that Assassin’s Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction are no longer accessible through Steam. According to users, attempting to launch the single-player campaigns results in an error message indicating a connection issue on Ubisoft’s side.
These claims appear to hold weight. The Steam store page for Assassin’s Creed II has recently seen a spike in negative reviews, reinforcing the idea that many players are encountering the same issue.
Some users have speculated that Ubisoft may have deliberately disabled the games via a new update. However, a check of SteamDB records doesn’t show any recent updates to either title, suggesting that’s likely not the case.
That said, Ubisoft wouldn’t necessarily need to push a new update to render the games unplayable. Both titles require an online connection for DRM validation, despite being strictly single-player experiences. This requirement means that if Ubisoft’s authentication servers are down or inaccessible, the games won’t launch even if you own them.
The situation is particularly frustrating given that these are single-player games without any real online functionality. It seems counterintuitive and frankly, unreasonable, that an internet connection is needed just to play a campaign you’ve already paid for.
After doing some further research, the only confirmed affected games at this point are Assassin’s Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Hopefully, this is just a temporary technical hiccup on Ubisoft’s part and not a deliberate move. Regardless, it raises serious questions about digital ownership, highlighting the uncomfortable reality that players can lose access to their games without warning.
