In a short blog post published to its official store today, Ubisoft revealed that the collector’s editions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla ($200), Far Cry 6 ($200), and Watch Dogs: Legion ($190) for Xbox One will not include physical copies of the games. Instead, those who pre-ordered will merely be getting digital keys, which can be redeemed on the appropriate storefront (e.g., Uplay).
This is pretty weird, since collector’s editions are expensive and typically include a physical disc to round out the package. What’s even weirder is that the collector’s editions for PlayStation will receive the games on discs, unlike Xbox.
We’re not sure why Ubisoft is doing this, but it could have something to do with Xbox’s Smart Delivery feature, which lets users upgrade copies of select games to their next-gen counterparts.
“Essentially, you buy a game once to play on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X,” Gamespot explained in its coverage. “All three of these Ubisoft titles support Smart Delivery, so there’s only one Collector’s edition for each game that will be compatible with both Xbox consoles.”