The director of Assassin’s Creed Shadows claims that the controversial, high-priced microtransactions scattered across the game are what keep post-launch updates and support going, even as many players see them as nothing more than a cash grab in a business model Ubisoft has been leaning on successfully for years.

How games make money has been a sore spot in the community for a long time. Some players reject microtransactions on principle, while others tolerate them as long as they do not feel mandatory. Ubisoft has now clarified once again where it stands on this model.

Although microtransactions are usually associated with free-to-play titles, Ubisoft has been building them into its full-price, single-player games as well, with the latest example being Assassin’s Creed Shadows. According to the game director, this approach is necessary if they want to keep supporting their games over the long term.

Why does it matter? In most of Ubisoft’s single-player releases, the microtransactions are largely cosmetic, so in theory you can ignore them completely. Even so, many fans see them as an aggressive cash grab that has no place in a story-driven, premium game.

In a recent interview with Access The Animus, Assassin’s Creed Shadows director Simon Lemay-Comtois openly defended the in-game shop, arguing that the money it brings in is used to fund updates and ongoing support for the game.

The backlash around Shadows has been intense, largely because of how expensive some of these items are. The game features a battle pass that can cost up to 50 dollars, which is roughly what you would pay for the full game itself when it is on sale.

“Microtransactions, for all the flak it gets, it allows us to do the Isu stuff, the quest stuff, the parkour updates, all of it.”
– Simon Lemay-Comtois

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Even so, this model has worked out for Ubisoft in recent years and continues to underpin its strategy. The publisher has even gone so far as to say that microtransactions make its games more fun, a statement that a loud segment of fans strongly disagrees with.

At the same time, the most recent DLC for Assassin’s Creed Shadows failed to land, and Ubisoft has reportedly decided to cancel the second planned expansion. The latest crossover with Attack on Titan has also drawn plenty of negative feedback, so these updates are not exactly winning the community over either.

What do you think about the director defending Ubisoft’s decision to pack in microtransactions by saying they keep the game alive? Share your thoughts in the comments, or join the conversation over on the official Tech4Gamers Forum.

Source: Tech4Gamers