Source: Ubisoft
If your Windows PC is set to automatically update, keep an eye out for performance issues on certain Ubisoft games.
Ubisoft titles such as Star Wars Outlaws, multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed series, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora have been rendered almost unplayable on PCs running on the Windows 11 operating system after its version 24H2 update.
Microsoft reported the issue and indicated that Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Origins, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora “might become unresponsive while starting, loading or during active gameplay. In some cases, users might receive a black screen.”
The issue has apparently been reported by players as far back as early October. It also seems to be exclusive to the aforementioned Ubisoft games, as there have been no confirmed reports of other Ubisoft titles or games from other publishers being affected by this specific issue. This issue has also hit at an unfortunate time for Star Wars Outlaws, as the game only recently launched on Steam on November 21.
Ubisoft had already released a “temporary mitigation” against the issue for Star Wars Outlaws, as part of the game’s fourth update. However, the publisher noted that performance issues may still persist and that they are still working on a permanent fix. Permanent solutions to the issue for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Origins, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora also haven’t been released yet.
For its part, Microsoft has released a safeguard for the Windows 11 update “that applied a compatibility” hold on devices with the affected games installed. They also recommended players of the affected games do not attempt to manually update to Windows 11 version 24H2 while the issues persist.
For now, Microsoft has instructed players currently facing the issue to use the Task Manager if the game stops responding to their commands, causing them to be unable to exit the game as usual.
Ubisoft and Microsoft have also jointly stated that they are working on a resolution for the issue and will provide more information when it is available.
