An assassin’s worst enemy is baked-in menu ads appearing in a full-priced game
Ubisoft claims a “technical error” led to a fullscreen menu ad appearing in the Xbox and PlayStation versions of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey this week.
In one glaring example, a player is shown pausing their game and navigating to the in-game map, only to be interrupted by a full-screen advertisement for Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The ad was accompanied by its 20 percent Black Friday discount info as well as the option to ‘Buy Now.’
Il semble qu’Ubisoft expérimente la publicité en jeu chez certains utilisateurs (Xbox et PS).
Vous êtes au milieu de votre jeu, accédez à la pause ou à la Map et vous avez pendant 3sec. une pub pour un autre jeu qui s’affiche. Suffisant pour désinstaller ? 😅 pic.twitter.com/m5S4rEXas5
— Fab ✨ (@Fab_XS_) November 23, 2023
Several players took to Reddit and X (formally Twitter) to complain, and it didn’t take long for Ubisoft to release a statement. Speaking to The Verge, Ubisoft spokesperson Fabien Darrigues said, “We have been made aware that some players encountered pop-up ads while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday.” Darrigues continued, “This was the result of a technical error that we addressed as soon as we learned of the issue.”
Ubisoft didn’t provide any additional information regarding what may have caused the ad to appear in-game. In-game ads aren’t out of the ordinary. We frequently see them littered throughout free-to-play mobile games and the like. Baking them into a full-priced $80 game, published by a AAA publisher? That’s another story. If Ubisoft’s claim is true, then the hope is we won’t see this occur again. However, if this was meant to be a test that accidentally went public, it sets a bad precedent.
Other publishers like Microsoft have been criticized for the use of ads. In the past, Xbox owners have been met with ads for Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and recently, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 when they turned their console on.
Image credit: @Fab_XS_
