A spokesperson for Ubisoft has explicitly denied that Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will include loot boxes or real money gambling after the false Xbox listings – and also commented on the remake of the first AC…
Publisher Ubisoft has officially denied that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will contain “loot boxes” or “real money gambling” after recent listings suggested it would. However, a representative from Ubisoft assures fans that this was a mistake and that AC Mirage will not contain content that meets such a description.
Developed by Ubisoft’s Bordeaux studio, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage was announced by the publisher on September 1, with the full unveiling taking place at the recent Ubisoft Forward. However, fans became concerned when Mirage arrived on the Xbox digital store, indicating that Mirage had been rated “Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Partial Nudity, Real Gambling” by the ESRB in the 18+ Adults Only category.
In addition to the PEGI 18 rating, the Xbox UK store also listed “Real Gambling” and “Extreme Violence”.
Adults Only is the highest and rarest rating issued by the ESRB, and most physical retailers refuse to sell games with this rating. Although usually associated with extreme violence or graphic sexual content, it also includes games that contain “real gambling”. This term implies that Assassin’s Creed: Mirage players would spend real money on in-game gambling. The ESRB differentiates this from the more common “simulated gambling” and automatically assigns an 18+ classification regardless of other factors.
It is difficult to imagine Assassin’s Creed: Mirage containing gambling in the traditional sense. However, these classifications on the Xbox store have raised the spectre of Loot Boxes, a controversial gambling-based mechanic defined as gambling by some jurisdictions. However, a spokesperson for Ubisoft clarified this earlier today, saying that the store sites were wrong. In a statement to Eurogamer, they indicated that Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is still awaiting review by the ESRB. They also and specifically denied that Mirage contains any gambling or loot box.
Although the Xbox store still showed an adults-only rating on the disclaimer, Xbox has since corrected the error.
Microsoft’s store page now labels Assassin’s Creed: Mirage as “Likely Mature”, with a general warning that the game may not be suitable for children. Meanwhile, the Xbox UK storefront continues to show a PEGI 18 rating but no longer lists gaming as one of the reasons. It’s still unclear exactly how this error happened, but some fans are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief.
So is there an AC 1 remake in the works or not?
Ubisoft has finally admitted to rumours of the possibility of an Assassin’s Creed remake while also stating that it is not in development. This statement comes after many fans speculated and hoped that a new version of the classic title could be coming soon. Of course, the Ubisoft team is full of other projects at the moment, including several other titles in the AC universe.
Assassin’s Creed was initially released in 2007, and it was with the character Altair that the epic Assassin’s Creed story began.
According to many gamers, the game has become a classic in Ubisoft’s oeuvre. With the title having seen the light of day a decade and a half ago, fans are hungry for a fresh take on Altair’s epic story. Sadly, after the Ubisoft Forward Event, it’s now clear that the gaming giant is not currently prepared to offer such a title.
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