Ubisoft started promoting Assassin's Creed Mirage with pop—up ads in another part of the series - Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The network noticed that banners now appear during the game with an offer to buy Assassin's Creed Mirage at a discount in honor of Black Friday.
A video clip with such an advertisement was published by a Reddit user under the nickname triddell24. It shows that when the redditor tried to open the map in the game, a banner appeared on the screen, blocking the entire interface. In the comments, the redditor added that he played Assassin's Creed Odyssey not by subscription, but completely bought the game.
Later, the triddell24 video was shared by French journalist Fab from XboxSquad. He noted that the banner also pops up when trying to pause the game. Fab does not exclude that advertising began to appear in the middle of the gameplay due to a bug. However, the journalist believes that Ubisoft could decide to test new marketing tools.
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
Other gamers confirmed on Reddit that they also saw a banner advertising Assassin's Creed Mirage. They met him in the Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game. Whether such an advertisement appeared on the PC has not yet been reported. As for whether there is a banner in Assassin's Creed Valhalla and other parts of the series, nothing is heard either.
After all the messages, gamers massively criticized Ubisoft: the company, they believe, is acting unacceptably by embedding advertising in a premium title worth $ 60. As a result, some have changed their minds about buying Assassin's Creed Mirage because of the intrusive promotion. Some gamers even said they would remove Assassin's Creed Odyssey if they encounter such advertising.
Ubisoft itself did not comment on the situation. Therefore, it is not completely clear whether this is just an experiment or a new practice of a French company. It is also unknown whether in-game advertising is shown to gamers around the world or only in certain regions.
Ubisoft has advertised its projects in its other games before, but it has placed banners in the main menu. This is the first time the company has shown ads in the middle of gameplay.
UPDATE: In a comment to The Verge, a Ubisoft representative explained the ad as a "technical error". It has already been eliminated.