The development of Assassin’s Creed Shadows hasn’t been the smoothest around, and both gamers and Ubisoft knows it. In fact, the game was supposed to be out in a few days until Ubisoft realized it needed more time for various reasons to fix and refine the game, and that led to them pushing it back to February. It’s sad to see that happen, but it’s better than having to fix a broken game at launch. Gamers are tired of that, especially given recent titles on multiple platforms that have been that way. However, another thing that gamers are tired of is microtransactions. Sadly, Ubisoft isn’t going to hold back on those. If anything, the company is getting more aggressive with them.
This reveal came via a datamine that happened, and it showcased that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will have a kind of “Battle Pass” that’ll have players unlock or buy special cosmetic items for the two main characters, Yasuke and Naoe.
While we won’t get into details about what you’ll find, we will say that if you’ve played certain FPS titles and other games that revolve around cosmetics and microtransactions, you know exactly what you’ll find here. New outfits, weapon skins, mounts, etc. The system to buy all these has been described as one similarly used by Activision, which explains quite a bit.
Just as bad, Ubisoft is apparently doing collaboration items with companies like Red Bull! Yeah, because Red Bull was totally around in Feudal Japan…
While microtransactions have been in past Ubisoft games, this seems like a blatant attempt to try and “cash in” with players, even though gamers have said they don’t want this kind of thing. Just look at Bandai Namco with its prized fighting game series, and you’ll see how microtransactions have been pushed way too far.
The other thing to note here is that since the images of these items have already been detailed and designed, that means that Ubisoft was working on them before the main game was finished and refined! The company was apparently more focused on its “extra content” than the main content, which really speaks to Ubisoft’s mindset in recent years.
It also should be noted that the team behind the new game asked the higher-ups for more time to finish the game earlier in the year, but they were denied. Many feel that fans forced Ubisoft’s hands when they noticed historical inaccuracies that would’ve made the game laughable at launch.
Ubisoft needs to get its priorities straight and in a hurry.