The question that everyone is asking nowadays is: what is Ubisoft Connect? Seemingly out of the blue, the popular publisher has announced that they'll soon be launching an all-new game-centric service that seems to be almost exactly what UPlay has been doing all along. However. That is precisely what Ubisoft is getting at: Connect is going to evolve the Ubisoft gaming ecosystem to an all-new level. Today, we aim to explain why you, too, should be interested in this project.

As most of you probably know by now, Ubisoft has been hard at work building up their portfolio of non-game services for years now. UPlay first launched back in 2012, and it's come a long way since. Whether it's unique rewards, bonus challenges, or just digital goodies you're chasing after, chances are that UPlay has what you need. In a way, it offers what no other game marketplace offers. However, things have gotten a bit bloated over the years.

Ubisoft Connect will simplify and condense all of Ubisoft's non-gaming portfolio and share it across platforms as part of a global network, so you get all the same services whether you play on a console or PC. Furthermore, for new Ubisoft games, all game progression will be saved within Ubisoft Connect, so you don't lose progression if you change consoles or switch to your PC. That's the gist of it, at least. Neat, right? Naturally, it remains to be seen how this will pan out. Ubisoft Connect is launching soon. Below, you'll find out everything we know about it so far.

What is Ubisoft Connect?

As we said, the answer is (relatively) simple! Ubisoft Connect will be UPlay 2.0: adapted, upgraded, and improved with next-gen functionality in mind. This project will essentially unify everything that Ubisoft has been building up over the years as part of the Ubisoft community and offer it in one neat package across all platforms, console or PC. Impressive stuff!

The official explanation is straightforward enough: "[Ubisoft Connect] aims at giving the best environment for all players to enjoy their games and connect with each other whatever the device."

More specifically, Connect will bring Ubisoft Club and UPlay together. This should, hopefully, lead to a simpler and more streamlined out-of-game experience. At least, as far as Ubisoft games go.

Are we losing UPlay Rewards, Cosmetics, and Items?

For quite some time now, Ubisoft has been offering extra in-game goodies in virtually all of their games through the so-called 'Club Rewards'. These items are not going to leave! They will be fully compatible with the refurbished Ubisoft Connect interface. In fact, their main unlocking mechanism - Ubisoft Units - will transition over to Ubisoft Connect, too, and you'll still be able to use them just fine.

That shiny UPlay Level will als0 transition over to the new system. Challenges, however, will not. As you may suspect, certain UPlay Rewards were locked behind these Challenges, not to mention how many Units they provided upon completion. To rectify the problem, Ubisoft will make all Challenge Rewards free to claim. Leveling up your account, too, will grant you more Units to spend in the Ubisoft store, which hasn't been the case up until now.

In simpler terms: everything will be made available in Ubisoft Connect. Just, y'know, better. Presumably easier and more intuitive to get.

Ubisoft Connect Official Release Date

what-is-ubisoft-connect3

Ubisoft Connect is coming out on October 29, as per the official Twitter announcement earlier today. From what we can tell, there's going to be no further input needed from users who already have UPlay installed. For all intents and purposes, Connect will be pushed out as an update to the existing Ubisoft game client. All you really need to do is open the thing up and let it download the files it needs.

All the changes we've described so far, as well as the ones we'll talk about below, will come into effect starting October 29th. If you're excited to claim some Club Rewards to spend in the Ubisoft store you couldn't grab earlier, this will be your chance to finally do so!

What platforms is it coming out on?

Ubisoft Connect is coming out not only on PC, but also on all of the relevant game consoles, too. On phones as well, no joke. Find the full list just below.

Following the release of next-gen consoles, expect for Ubisoft Connect to be available there, too, using the consoles' respective UI.

Fun stuff all around, we think. Now that we've mentioned all the platforms, though, your mind might be racing: is cross-platform crossplay coming with Ubisoft Connect?

Ubisoft Crossplay: Is this the Goal of Connect?

ubisoft-crossplay-support-next-gen-games1

Ubisoft crossplay has long-since been a wonderful pipe-dream for us. It's hardly secret that the popular publishing house is gearing up to launch not one but several major blockbusters very soon. Most prominently, these Ubisoft games are Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion. It's hardly possible that the imminent release of Ubisoft Connect has nothing to do with that.

If reading this article had you hoping that Ubisoft games are getting crossplay and cross-progression... you were right! Both of these features are coming alongside Ubisoft's new game client, and we couldn't be happier to confirm this to be true.

This will also tie in neatly with, say, Microsoft's Smart Delivery feature on Xbox. While there's no telling if Ubisoft will have the chutzpah to push cross-platform purchases ahead, players will at least have the chance to move their progression from one platform to the other. Not to mention what a huge boon for multiplayer games will crossplay be. Great news all around, as we promised.

What about Ubisoft Connect on Mobile Phones?

As you can probably imagine, iOS and Android won't exactly get feature parity with the PC and console releases of Connect. However, Ubisoft aims to use mobile platforms as a sort of a smart delivery system for game-related information. In other words, install Connect on your mobile phone to get the following:

Of course, there's no telling if Ubisoft Connect will be as powerful on mobile platforms as we're hoping it would be. That said, the release date is really close by. Not a long wait at all.

Ubisoft Connect: The Next-Gen Gaming Platform?

Ubisoft is ubiquitous at this point. Adapting the Ubisoft game launcher to work as a one-stop-shop for everything relating to Ubisoft games, the Ubisoft store, and the Ubisoft community was bound to happen sooner or later. We don't see a better opportunity to do so than just before next-gen consoles come out.

Ubisoft Connect promises a whole lot more than many other game launchers do, and though it's obviously only going to work on new and ongoing games (older titles won't have access to new features, and might reference legacy services in some places), we do have high hopes for it. It does seem like just about everyone's playing at least one Ubisoft game. If we do get full crossplay support and proper cross-progression across the board, this very well could be the game-changer that Ubisoft is clearly hoping for it to be.

Time will tell, and since the release date is just a few days out, we can't wait to see what this all comes down to and how Ubisoft Connect holds up against other game companies. Stay tuned for all the latest news regarding more Connect coverage as soon as it becomes available!

The question that everyone is asking nowadays is: what is Ubisoft Connect? Seemingly out of the blue, the popular publisher has announced that they’ll soon be launching an all-new game-centric service that seems to be almost exactly what UPlay has been doing all along. However. That is precisely what Ubisoft is getting at: Connect is going to evolve the […]