Valve Steam Deck: Ubisoft Connect Problems after update

Valve’s Steam Deck is effectively a portable gaming PC in the body of a handheld console.

The device has been a huge success, being a convenient device to take with you anywhere. Unfortunately, a new update to the Ubisoft Connect launcher recently interrupted Steam game play on Linux platforms, like the very Steam Deck. There was an error popup that made playing impossible after that.

Fortunately, there is now a solution to this problem: you can use Proton Experimental, a test version of the compatibility layer that allows Linux to run Steam games for Windows. Proton’s developers have already included a fix in their downloadable “Bleeding Edge” beta, and from Valve, fittingly, there was a fix for Proton Experimental that is available without participating in the program’s beta.

Playing Ubisoft games is now possible again, but the issue again shows how frustrating third-party launchers can be. It would be nice if such problems could be avoided in the future, for example by eliminating such launchers. Such a change could also be wished for a possible future version of Steam Deck.