At Ubisoft’s GamesCom presentation, it was revealed that a microtransaction system would be present in their highly anticipated next-gen title, Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Whether or not the announcement will affect the sales, gameplay experience, or overall pace of the game is irrelevant. Why is this so? Because in regards to AAA titles, it doesn’t really matter.
Above: We’re not going to assassinate your wallet…unless you let us.
Microtransactions, in general, are prevalently seen in free-to-play games ranging from casual games, such as the digital meth that is Candy Crush, to more cerebral experiences such as Hearthstone. They are implemented as a paid gameplay mechanic to facilitate the hastened progression of a player as opposed to simply playing the game. Individuals pay “real-world” money for either items or boosts that would take a much longer amount of time to acquire if they played the game normally. Microtransactions seem harmless initially, usually costing very little, but over time they accumulate, sometimes at a startling rate. Yet, Assassin’s Creed: Unity is not a free-to-play title, it is a high-profile game by a video game industry giant. Ubisoft would not develop a blockbuster game for the gaming population that estranges players who decide not to participate in the game’s microtransaction system. So the real question is why put a microtransaction system in a AAA title in the first place?
Ubisoft claims that players can pay real money to expedite various item, ability, or weapon unlocks, rather than earning them by playing the game regularly. The senior producer of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Vincent Pontbriand even stated:
“…while a microtransaction system may not suit every game, it does work for Assassin’s Creed: Unity because it does not fundamentally affect the overall experience.”
Above: Vincent Pontbriand
This is the primary reason that the microtransaction system to be included in Assassin’s Creed: Unity is truly inconsequential. Gamers that truly care about Unity, those who have followed the Assassin’s Creed franchise through the thick and the thin, will simply opt out of the system, and play the game as it is meant to be played. As long as it does not tamper with the gameplay mechanics or story progression, there is really no cause for concern.
Pontbriand also mentioned that the driving force for implementing the microtransaction system was due to Ubisoft’s commitment to recognize evolving trends in the gaming industry. With this statement, Ubisoft is implying that gamers are actually regressing, instead of maturing, in terms of playing their games.
As previously mentioned, most gamers play video games to experience what the developers intended them to experience. By instituting a microtransaction model into Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Ubisoft is either suggesting that Unity is a game with sequences so mundane that gamers will want to pay for different methods to progress through them quicker, or people playing it are so lazy that they will purchase items that they could obtain by merely playing the game…and that is the real problem.