Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be supported on Steam Deck at launch, despite previously saying that Valve’s handheld was not powerful enough to run the upcoming blockbuster.
In a post on the official Assassin’s Creed X (formerly Twitter) account, Ubisoft said, “Many of you have been asking about Steam Deck. We are happy to say that we are supporting Steam Deck at launch and are currently awaiting the level of classification from Valve. More info to come soon.”
By “level of classification,” Ubisoft is referring to whether Valve will tag the game as Verified or merely Playable on the handheld. To attain Verified status, games must run well on default settings, plus have controls and an interface that are well configured for the device. But Ubisoft seems confident enough to make Steam Deck support official.
It’s a surprising move, because as little as a month ago, Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ technology director Pierre F said in a tech Q&A that the game “will not be compatible with Steam Deck, due to the fact it is below our minimum specs for PC.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is very much a cutting-edge, AAA production. It is not being released on last-generation consoles and the PC system requirements don’t even allow for ray tracing to be turned off. Getting it running well on the capable but relatively humble Steam Deck will not be an easy feat for Ubisoft’s engineers.
Until recently, the Steam Deck has been able to keep up with most recent releases. But this deep into the console generation, with support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One becoming a rarity, the three-year-old device is struggling to run new releases like Monster Hunter Wilds — and it’s questionable whether it has a big enough user base for developers to actively support it. In that context, Ubisoft’s decision to support the device with Assassin’s Creed Shadows is laudable, if not brave. It will be interesting to see how well the game performs on Steam Deck.
The post Assassin’s Creed Shadows will support Steam Deck after all appeared first on Polygon.
