Ubisoft embraces a cross-platform progression future with Assassin's Creed Valhalla and more
Fans of French publishing giant Ubisoft's games will be able to pick up and play on any platform thanks to its new Connect service.
Announced in a news post, this new platform is launching on October 29th for PC, console and mobile devices. It's replacing the Uplay desktop app and the company's Club loyalty scheme.
The service is adding cross-progression support for titles including Hyper Scape, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and Riders Republic in addition to more upcoming releases. You can be playing one of these games on PC and then pick up where you left off on PlayStation 4. Magic! The future is here.
Ubisoft Connect works across all platforms, so you can see what your friends are playing and what achievements they have unlocked no matter what hardware they're using.
Users are even rewarded for playing Ubisoft titles and completing challenges for future releases; the more time they spend with these games, the more they can unlock. These are divided into 'core' and 'time-limited' challenges; presumably the former are permanent while the latter are only available for a certain period.
On launch, core challenges will be live for For Honor, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Hyper Scape, The Division 2 and Steep, while support for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Rainbow Six: Siege will be coming in a future update. Meanwhile, time-limited challenges will be live for all the above, aside from For Honor, which will be updated to use them at a later date.
Challenges aren't being implemented for Ubisoft's back catalogue, so the company has decided to unlock over 1,000 prizes – including weapons, character skins and emotes – for these games that haven't made the cut. Ubisoft Units will remain, and you'll continue to earn them the same way you do today.
Oh, and Connect also gives players access to their stats for games, like the number of folks they've assassinated in murder simulator Assassin's Creed Valhalla. They can compare these figures with their friends, too, if that's something people want to do.
The death of Ubisoft's Uplay and Club services has long been hinted at. Back in December 2018, the firm said that Club Points earned after April 1st, 2019 had to be used within two years.