If there’s anything that gets gamers going, it’s microtransactions. Ever since Oblivion’s legendary horse armour almost 20 years ago, they’ve been a blemish on the industry. Be it loot boxes, FIFA/FC Ultimate Team packs or season passes to name a few, there’s ever a new entrepreneurial idea to extract more money from players.
Whatever your perspective _ likely negative _ is on microtransactions, they’re here to stay and they make publishers an incredible amount of money. Games like Call of Duty receive heavy criticism online for some of their non-military themed character skins, but as a seasoned Warzone player I can vouch that a third of most lobbies are paid skin characters. Fortnite’s ability to create and sell skins from all facets of pop culture is something that almost all big developers have been looking to replicate for years.
But, do we, the gamer, like microtransactions? Well, Ubisoft seem to believe we do. In Ubisoft’s annual report _ it’s almost 400 pages, you’re welcome to read _ they believe that microtransactions help to make games “more fun”. I’d hasten a guess that most people will wonder what’s exactly meant by this and what predatory approaches to monetisation Ubisoft have in mind.
Though what may offer some reassurance that your next Assassin’s Creed, Rayman or Rainbow Six won’t be riddled with monetisation is that Ubisoft are thinking about the player. The annual report also states that Ubisoft’s approach will be “monetisation and engagement policies that respect the player experience and are sustainable in the long term.”. Further, they add “The golden rule when developing premium games, is to allow players to enjoy the game in full without having to spend more.”.
Ubisoft’s recent monetisation lessons
It’s very likely that they’ve learnt big lessons from the failure that was XDefiant, their enjoyable F2P FPS and rival to Call of Duty that lasted only a year before having its servers closed.
Though, more recently Assassin’s Creed Shadows was a launch success for Ubisoft, both critically _ we scored the game a 9/10 _ and commercially. The blockbuster singleplayer only game was the third biggest entry launch in the franchise and has a quality Year 1 roadmap which includes free and paid content. Perhaps signalling that the big publisher has established some sense of reality in selling additional content to the player.
What the future of monetisation for Ubisoft games looks like is unclear but microtransactions are here to stay. Whilst it’s easy to finger wag at Ubisoft here, at least they’re open about their intentions unlike other publishers.
What’s your thoughts on Ubisoft’s comments? Do you spend money in-game on your favourite titles? Let us know in the comments below and stick with GSC for all your gaming news.
