Union Update: Your questions about the launch answered (Updated)

After rubbing our eyes in disbelief when looking at the calendar, we have to face the facts- Anno 1800 is only six days away from launching the franchise into the age of the industrial evolution!

In last week’s update, we extensively covered the topic of our Open Beta (reminder: everyone can participate via Uplay and Epic Games store between April 12-14 to earn a fancy Open Beta ornament for their city’s parks). This week, we turn our attention to answering many of your burning questions surrounding the game’s launch (such as pre-loading, day 1 patch, when the game goes live etc.). We also have some live streams to announce, and encourage you all to take another look at our beautiful open beta trailer. So let’s get started!

Let’s talk about launch

Pre-Loading:
Pre-Loading for anyone with a digital pre-order on Uplay, Steam or the Epic Games Store will begin on April 12 at 3pm UTC . The total download size will be around 25 GB. Update: Pre-loading will start on April 11 at 3pm UTC, and not 9am as had been previously communicated. We apologize for this change.

Day 1 Patch:
We have been busy bees and worked hard to further improve Anno 1800 after we shipped the gold discs off to the factory to produce all the physical copies of the game. That means that anyone who bought a physical copy of the game will need to download our Day 1 Patch before they can start playing (the patch is already part of the pre-load for digital buyers). The Day 1 Patch will come in at roughly 23GB.

Launch timing:
We are currently ironing out the last details and will give you an update on the exact launch timing as soon as possible.

Removing Beta clients
As previously announced, you won’t be able to carry over existing downloads or save games from any of our test phases (Technical Test, Closed Beta or Open Beta), so feel free to delete them to free up space.

Open Beta trailer
This should give you answers to the most pressing questions regarding the launch. But before you have to worry about that, there’s out Open Beta coming this week! And what better way to get into the Anno mood than with another look at our Open Beta trailer?

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This week’s live streaming
With only one more week to go, we will of course have some more streams for you all to enjoy as we count down the last final days until Open Beta and launch.

The entertainment already starts tonight, as we have granted select influencers and media early access to the Open Beta, which they are free to stream as they see fit. You can keep an eye on all available streams here: https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Anno%201800

Then we have our latest AnnoCast on Thursday at 3.30 pm UTC. Join us one last time (before launch) as we play the game and answer your questions. Plus, there are rumors that our Pioneers Edition and the limited edition vinyl soundtrack will drop in for a live unboxing…

Friday afternoon while have another Anno Afternoon with Guddy and John continuing their Anno 1800 adventures. Join them for a relaxed fun time at 3pm UTC. Hey, with your help, there is a high chance that they manage to push forward into the fourth residential tier!

As always, you can watch out live-streams on our official Ubisoft Blue Byte channel: twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

That’s it for this (very busy, and filled to the brims with Anno-goodness) week. See you in the Open Beta!