Ubisoft’s recent re-release of the original Heroes of Might and Magic 3 on Steam couldn’t have gone much worse, as Ubisoft literally forgot to include the game files.
The arrival of the turn-based strategy classic should have been an easy win for the publisher, offering an all-time-great game, bundled alongside its two expansions, for $10 ahead of a full remake slated to arrive next year. The only issue is when players forked over the cash and installed it, they noticed the “game” was only 23.49KB in size.
As players soon discovered, Ubisoft had forgotten to include the actual game files for Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Users took to Steam’s user reviews to warn others and express their disbelief. According to one user, trying to play the game instead opened a command prompt window with the text “Dummy executable ensure that you are on the right Steam branch.”
As one negative user review on Steam states, “Best CMD prompt simulator of 2026. 10/10.” Others continued the pile on, stating “You will own nothing and be happy,” while another asked “Dude, where’s my game?”
This has since been fixed to include the actual game people paid for, but according to another user review, that fix still took close to 11 hours after launch to arrive.
It won’t surprise you to learn that most of the negative user reviews on Steam for the re-release are related to the snafu, with people sounding more than a little dumbstruck by how Ubisoft forgot to include the game with its game. Many are pointing prospective Steam buyers to instead purchase Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete on GOG, where it’s currently on sale for $5. Ubisoft hasn’t yet commented on the mix-up or offered an explanation.
Ubisoft will get a chance to redeem itself when it releases its full Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake next year. The remake will include updated 4K visuals, the original campaign, and both of the game’s two expansions to tell “one unified story, enhanced with a new prologue, epilogue, and cinematic scenes.”