Like other recent Ubisoft titles, Ghost Recon Breakpoint will be available on the Epic Games Store, and Uplay, but will not be on Steam.
Keeping with their current trend, Ubisoft will not be selling Ghost Recon Breakpoint through Steam. For PC players, the game will be available through their own Uplay storefront, and the Epic Games Store. This follows the precedent that Ubisoft set with Anno 1800, and The Division 2.
While the games are not Epic Games Store exclusives, I imagine a lot of people will still be put out by this news. While you could pre-order both Anno 1800 and The Division 2 on Steam, this will not be an option for Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Both those games were available on Steam before a decision was made to make them EGS and Uplay only games, this is not the case with Breakpoint.
As a decision, this is potentially less damaging for Ubisoft that for other publishers. Ubisoft games purchased on Steam always needed to launch via the Uplay launcher anyway, so people can still purchase the game there and launch it the same way. I’m yet to see a major backlash from consumers over the news, but I imagine that will happen with time.
Epic has been doing their best to position their ongoing head-to-head with Steam as being a pro publisher and developer stance, but many gamers see their efforts to compete through exclusivity as being bad for the consumer. Even though Breakpoint will not be an Epic Store exclusive, I expect some people to still react badly to the news, especially as Epic seem a little slow to bring some promised improvements to their store.
Ubisoft has said that upcoming select titles will come to the Epic Store, but have not indicated as to which titles they will be, whether they will continue to launch on EGS and Uplay (the most likely situation), or whether they will once again go back to launching through Steam. It is reasonable to assume that the current sales figures are being watched carefully, and a further decision will be made based on how well the games do. It is a reasonably good time for Ubisoft to see if they can squeeze Steam for better terms, as their recent games have been doing very well with critics and consumers alike.
