Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Steam re-release launches to disaster as Ubisoft forgot to include the game files

heroes of might and magic 3 key art showing a man on his 'orse

Published:

26 August 2026

Last Updated: 26 August 2026

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Ubisoft’s beloved strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is back via a brand-new Steam release. However, the heroes, the might, and the magic are all missing as the game’s latest re-release doesn’t include any files to make the game work.

For years now, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 was only available on Steam via its atrocious HD re-release that didn’t bother to include any of the game’s expansions. For the last decade, fans have been pushed to the game’s GOG version which included DRM-free versions of the game and every expansion.

Following the reveal of Ubisoft’s fantastic looking remake of Heroes and Might and Magic 3 last night at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, the French gaming giant surprise dropped the original game on Steam for classic fans for just $10. However, that $10 purchase forgot to include the files needed to actually run the game.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is sitting at Mostly Negative on Steam due to the fact that Ubisoft launched the game without any way to play it. Players who bought and installed the game only downloaded 23.49KB of data which included, well, absolutely nothing at all. In fact, players who tried to boot the game would be met with a “dummy executable” error message.

At the time of publication, Ubisoft has just remedied the issue and negative reviews are starting to dwindle. While this is a basic re-release—it’s essentially the GOG version but now playable on Steam—it’s a cheap and cheerful way to play the brilliant original game and its expansions ahead of the upcoming remake.

Ubisoft just announced a remake of HoMaM3 that’s launching next year, and it looks brilliant.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Remake is set to release sometime in 2027 and features the original game and its expansions fully rebuilt in 3D with “improved visuals, refined animations and modern audio that bring new life to the world” of Erathia. The remake also includes eight-player local and online battles and features mod tools to allow players to create custom maps.

While the re-release of the classic game is a seriously idiotic one, hopefully, the upcoming remake’s launch will be smooth. With a possible year until release, if not a bit longer, Ubisoft should hopefully have the time to make sure everything works properly. (Or at least include the game files!)

About The Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with over a decade in the field. Starting with beloved Xbox website ICXM/XboxMAD, Lewis became the Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser before becoming the Editor in Chief of StealthOptional and Gfinityesports. Lewis later jumped to By Gamers For Gamers where he jumped to become EIC of VideoGamer and the host of the New VideoGamer Podcast prior to the website’s acquisition.

Over the years, Lewis has also seen long-form investigative pieces published in outlets such as Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, Retro Gamer, Nintendo Life, and EDGE. Now, as the Editor in Chief of FRVR Blog, Lewis strives to bring the same level of quality journalism with interview-led content to the site in both written and audio form with the FRVR Podcast.

With a First Degree BA Hons in Games Journalism and Public Relations, Lewis has been a stable part of the British games press for over a decade, and has frequently displayed his love of Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and other games pretty much everywhere he’s worked. And FRVR is no different.

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