Ubisoft Connect Services Quietly Drops the Launcher Requirement for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Steam

Ubisoft has begun quietly testing a new way to ship its PC games through Steam without forcing players to install or run the standalone Ubisoft Connect launcher, starting with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

The change is being introduced through a Steam tool called Ubisoft Connect Services, which preserves Ubisoft's account-linked features including cross-progression, cross-play, player safety tools, challenges and rewards while removing the separate desktop client from the launch path. Ubisoft framed the test as an "initial step toward a smoother and more streamlined launch experience on Steam" and said the tool will progressively roll out to more Ubisoft games on Steam in the future, without committing to a fixed timeline or full list of supported titles.

The announcement did not arrive as a traditional press release. Instead, Ubisoft posted a short update titled "Introducing Ubisoft Connect Services" directly on the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Steam news page, where players will find it among the game's recent patch notes. The Lost Crown is a relatively low-risk title for a first test because it is a single-player Metroidvania with no online multiplayer, making it the cleanest environment to verify that the new integration can handle cloud saves, achievements and account linking without the launcher running in the background.

Ubisoft is not killing Ubisoft Connect outright. Players will still need a Ubisoft account to use the platform's online services, and the broader Connect ecosystem that spans cross-platform chat, friends lists and the Ubisoft rewards program remains intact across PC, console and mobile. What disappears, at least for supported titles, is the extra client that has long sat between Steam and the actual game executable, an extra login, an extra splash screen and an extra background process that players have complained about for years.

The shift also has a practical knock-on effect for handheld PC users. The Ubisoft Connect launcher has been a notorious source of friction on SteamOS, Linux and Steam Deck, where compatibility layers such as Proton have had to translate the client alongside the game. By moving more of that plumbing directly into Steam, Ubisoft is making it materially easier for its games to boot cleanly on Valve's handheld hardware and on the upcoming Steam Machine.

For now, only Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has the new launcher-free flow enabled, and it is being positioned as a live test rather than a finished replacement. Ubisoft says it will "continue to iterate and improve Ubisoft Connect Services over time," which leaves open whether the broader Ubisoft catalogue including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six eventually moves over, and how existing online-heavy titles will handle the transition.

The change is also a quiet reversal of one of the most stubborn frictions in PC gaming. Ubisoft largely walked away from Steam around 2019, only beginning to return in 2022, and recent launches including Assassin's Creed Shadows have shipped day one on Steam while still requiring Connect. If the test holds, the next round of Ubisoft releases on Valve's storefront could be the first in more than a decade to launch without the extra launcher standing between the player and the play button.