The Steam release of 'Heroes of Might and Magic III' Complete Edition suffered a launch blunder. Immediately following release, users could only download a single 23.49 KB dummy executable without the actual game. This error persisted for about 10 hours.

This product bundles the original 1999 game with its expansion packs, 'Armageddon's Blade' and 'The Shadow of Death'. Ubisoft stated that this is the first time the Complete Edition has been released on Steam. The price in Korea is 11,400 won, and Korean language support is not included.

According to Steam distribution data, the product was published at 4:55 AM KST on the 26th. The initial installation folder contained only 'Heroes3.exe', which, when launched, displayed the message "Dummy executable. Ensure that you are on the right Steam branch" in the Windows command prompt. PC Gamer and Polish media outlet CD-Action also reported the same issue based on user reviews.

The public branch was updated at 3:08 PM. Currently, the English version is allocated a total of 1.03 GB, including approximately 92.4 MB of shared data and approximately 937.1 MB of language data. The actual game files were added approximately 10 hours and 13 minutes after launch.

Following the fix, some users updated their reviews to state they could now download and run the original game and expansions. However, reviews noting that mouse inputs do not work still remain, so normal operation across all PC environments has not yet been confirmed.

This release is separate from 'Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake', scheduled for launch in 2027, which Ubisoft announced at the same time. The remake is an entirely separate game built on the Snowdrop Engine and will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

As of the time of writing, neither Ubisoft nor Steam has issued an official notice explaining the cause of the dummy file distribution or details on the fix.