Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis coming soon, launching on March 20, and Steam players have been eagerly waiting for news on how Ubisoft will support the Steam Deck.
In recent years, the game developer has tried to move away from Steam, focusing on its own launcher,UbisoftConnect, instead. But since late 2024,Ubisoft is making a strong return to Steam, bringing full integration withAC ShadowsSteam achievements, collectible cards, and badges.
A big question about the game was how well it would run on the Steam Deck. When Ubisoft first confirmedAssassin’s Creed Shadowswill be available on Steam Deck at launch, it wasn’t clear whether it would just be Playable or be fully Verified for a smooth experience.
AC Shadows achieves Steam Deck Verified earlier than expected
Today, Ubisoft confirmed thatAssassin’s Creed Shadowsis officiallySteam Deck-verified—the highest level of compatibility a game can get. The company acknowledged how they got it earlier than they expected.
“Despite initially announcing we wouldn’t be able to support until later […] the team made great progress over the past few weeks and was able to make it happen for launch,”Ubisoft wroteon Steam.
This means players will be able to fully customize controls and use all the Steam Deck features that come with verified games. It probably also means the game runs at a decent frame rate, likely somewhere close to 30 FPS at the very least. That’s a good sign for a modern game running on the Steam Deck, which is often considered underpowered compared to other platforms.
Ubisoft will lock AC Shadows graphic settings on the Steam Deck
While this is mostly great news, there is one downside. AC Shadows’ graphics settings will be locked, at least for now. Ubisoft hasn’t explained exactly which settings will be locked or how that will impact performance, but players won’t be able to tweak most of the graphics options at launch.
“While graphical settings will be locked at launch, you’ll be able to choose the upscalers you want, and we’re looking into providing further options in future updates,” the company wrote.
So whatever visual quality you get on day one is what you’ll have to stick with until Ubisoft releases an update with more options. There’s no word yet on when that update will come, but it’ll likely take a few weeks. Ubisoft will probably focus on fixing launch bugs and critical issues before adding more graphics settings for Steam Deck players.
AC Shadowsreleases on Steam along with other platforms on March 20, with the exact timing depending on your region.
