Summary

  • Attitudes on microtransactions in single-player games have changed slowly over the years.
  • Players are now permissive towards microtransactions if they're unobtrusive.
  • The debate will likely rage forever.

Two decades ago, the current pervasiveness of microtransactions in single-player games would have been unthinkable. 2006 brought us Oblivion's infamous Horse Armour, seen at the time as a shameless cash grab on Bethesda's part. Little did they know that 20 years later, $1.50 for some rad cosmetics for our horse would be seen as a bargain. The Overton window on microtransactions has certainly shifted, likely driven by the relentless monetisation of live-service titles.

These changing attitudes were reflected in a recent Reddit thread from the aptly named Wuckforld. This individual put forward a statement saying that microtransactions should be removed from Assassin's Creed. They claim to have seen evidence of microtransactions in the verified leaked early release of Assassin's Creed Shadows. However, it's hardly surprising that Shadows has microtransactions given they've been ever-present in the series since Origins.

Changing Times

These microtransactions are usually premium sets of gear or are purely cosmetic. There are also various boosts you can buy to make grinding in-game levels faster. The original poster says they feel the existence of these shortcuts and premium gear makes grinding less attractive to them. It's not an unreasonable opinion, but commenters on this thread vehemently disagree.

"Honestly the way Assassin's Creed has done it is the best way. The paid armours never had unique top-of-the-line stats so they don't have a huge impact on gameplay," writes Nathan-David-Haslett. "They are usually over-the-top fantasy or myth-inspired for their visuals, so if you want to wear stuff that fits the time and era of the game's setting, you would avoid them anyways."

This is the prevailing opinion in the thread. As long as the best gear in the game isn't gated behind a paywall, there isn't a problem. Some argue that since you can grind for these items and buy them off an in-game vendor (Reda in Origins), they aren't necessarily even paywalled. This discounts that collecting premium gear in this manner takes quite a long time.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm puzzled as to why people give a sh*t about something truly so unimportant. If people want to spend extra money on a single-player game that affects no one but themselves, why should you care?" comments almostbad.

There's a sort of inherent acceptance among players regarding Assassin's Creed's microtransactions, as if Ubisoft including them is mandatory. There's even praise for the implementation of these microtransactions, with commenters suggesting that Ubisoft has gone about the whole thing in an admirable manner. After years of being faced with microtransactions, players are now willing to accept them if they're unobtrusive. A far cry from how attitudes regarding microtransactions used to be.

Assassin's Creed Shadows releases March 20 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

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Assassin's Creed Shadows

Action Stealth RPG Systems 14 8.5/10 Released March 20, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language Developer(s) Ubisoft Quebec Publisher(s) Ubisoft
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