Ubisoft is capping its user’s bandwidth usage to prevent its services from any potential outage. Therefore, end-users will see a download speed reduction. The company operates UPlay Client and its marketplace for purchases, downloads and game launchers. UPlay has limited games in comparison to Steam which houses games to other developers and a well-established indie-game marketplace. Rainbow Six Siege, Assassin’s Creed titles, Anno 1800, Tom Clancy titles and Watch Dogs are some of the well-known titles available to download.
It doesn’t sound too bad. Ubisoft is giving Assassin’s Creed 2 free-of-cost as long as you redeem it before April 17th. Its a part of its ‘Play Apart Together’ initiative. Earlier, it gave away Rayman Legends. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Revelations are sold at discounted prices, too.
Stress on all Digital service and internment providers
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak and stay-at-home order in many countries, people are relying on digital services and entertainment. The global traffic spike, irrespective of the platform have increased exponentially. This forced giant players like Netflix and Youtube to downgrade its bandwidth for smooth operation.
Safety measures by Ubisoft
Ubisoft said it is keeping all its upcoming new releases and updates outside of peak hours. The company also requests its community to voluntarily adjust its download settings in its launcher. A third party Content Delivery Network manages game and update downloads. Akamai provides a cache for services and websites via the network of its servers. UPlay should be a seamless download experience with a CDN partner, However, it felt the need to limits its download speed to prevent server outage. Microsoft and Sony are taking similar steps, Ubisoft explains.
The changes only affect download speed and do not affect the multiplayer experience. Understandably, Ubisoft did not say how long they plan to keep this up due to the nature of the pandemic and the priority to flatten the curve by remaining indoors, with an exception to buy essential goods and medical services.
