Ubisoft has announced a slew of details regarding which of its games will receive cross-progression, next-gen upgrades, and backwards compatibility on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.
Like most of these types of announcements, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds on what game gets what feature (especially since messaging regarding cross-gen compatibility has been a confusing mess thus far), but we lay it all out for you below.
Most notably, some Assassin’s Creed games aren’t backwards compatible on PS5. These include Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Trilogy Pack, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles India, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles China, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Russia, as well as other properties like Risk, Star Trek Bridge Crew, Werewolves Within, Space Junkies.
These games will be backward compatible on Xbox Series X/S.
As for next-gen upgrades of PS4/Xbox One to PS5/Xbox Series X/S, a number of Ubisoft games will receive them at no additional cost to players. But there are some restrictions for players who transition from disc drive to digital-only consoles.
You can only upgrade your game if you’re sticking with either a physical or digital version, meaning you can’t upgrade from a physical version of Watch Dogs to a digital version on a next-gen console or vice versa. You can also only upgrade within the same console family, so Xbox One to Series X or PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5.
Games receiving free next-gen upgrades include: Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Riders Republic, and Rainbow Six Siege (with a next-gen version of Siege to be announced at a later date, and Japanese Siege players will need to pay 100 yen). All these games also have cross-progression.
Games receiving cross-progression across console generations and console families (meaning you can go from Xbox to PlayStation or vice versa) include: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Riders Republic, and Hyperscape.
Games receiving cross-progression across console generations, but requiring you to stay within the same console family include: Watch Dogs Legion and Rainbow Six Siege.
Ubisoft says “most” of its games will receive backward compatibility (excluding the ones we mention in the second paragraph of this article), and some backward compatible games will additionally receive cross-progression between generations within the same console family, including For Honor (with free graphical upgrades), The Division 2, The Crew 2, as well as Just Dance 2021 and the upcoming Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake.
Cross-generation cross-play will be available for Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor, allowing users to play with friends as long as they’re within the same console family.
Ubisoft closed their post by stating that more “cross-platforms benefits” are coming in the future and that cross-progression is part of their commitment to players.
“Designed for a new gaming era, one where you expect to be able to play, progress and stay in touch with friends anywhere, Ubisoft Connect lays the foundation that will enable Ubisoft’s games and services to live across platforms and make cross-platform features a standard moving forward,” Ubisoft’s post reads.
Clarity on cross-gen compatibility messaging has eluded the likes of PlayStation and Xbox for some time now. Here’s what you need to know about PS4 to PS5 compatibility and here’s our massive chart laying out every difference between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X.
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he’s backwards compatible with your heart. Cross-progress with him on Twitter.Source