Assassin's Creed Mirage microtransaction leak denied by Ubisoft

A recent leak in the gaming community has just caused controversy among Assassin’s Creed fans. Reportedly, the hotly-anticipated Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will have microtransaction features and block certain content with a paywall. 

The image, which was shared on the r/assassinscreed subreddit from a now-taken-down tweet by @xj0nathan, shows a gear pack called the Fire Demon Pack. This pack includes a demonic-style armor set, a fiery sword, and a special hellish-looking mount. It’s not surprising that Ubisoft would include microtransactions in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, given how well they have sold in the past three games. 

AC Mirage gear pack leak. looks like we’ll have microtransactions after all.
byu/KvasirTheOld inassassinscreed

But here’s the crazy bit. From the confusion, the game has received a USK 16 rating in Germany according to the country’s Children and Young Persons Protection Act, meaning that the game is playable by teenagers from 16 years of age and above on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows. The reason? The game “contains the additional feature “In-Game Purchases”.”

“In-Game Purchases: The game contains options to purchase additional content directly. These are often smaller additional items (items) that provide more variety in the course of the game, such as “bonus levels”, “skins” (outfits for game characters), virtual coins and other forms of in-game currency, subscriptions and upgrades (e.g . to disable advertising),” the rating system reads.

Ubisoft clarifies the situation with the ratings in Germany
byu/Ghost_LeaderBG inassassinscreed

Although the specific game elements leading to its “in-game purchases” label and a 16 rating by the German authority haven’t been explicitly detailed, Ubisoft has now provided clarification. The company’s representative, communicating via Discord, stated that the game doesn’t incorporate any distinct subscription model.

“The game does not include any dedicated subscription model, and does not feature any form of advertising beyond the traditional in-game news offering information about AC Mirage and the AC franchise. Some optional cosmetic bundles will be purchasable directly on 1st party stores at launch – but we will share more in the weeks to come!,” the message reads.