YouTuber and video game commentator Asmongold balked at Ubisoft’s $130 price point for the Ultimate Edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Ubisoft revealed Assassin’s Creed Shadows with the game’s first trailer earlier this week. Not only did they reveal the game, they also shared a number of different editions of the game players can pre-order.
First, the standard edition costs $69.99 for the base game and a pre-order bonus, which is an in-game quest titled Thrown to the Dogs.
Next, the company offers a Gold Edition priced at $109.99. This edition includes the base game, the in-game quest, a season pass, and 3-day early access. The Season Pass includes what appears to be a separate in-game bonus quest as well as “additional unlockable content as well as two upcoming expansions.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
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The third edition is an Ultimate Edition. It includes the base game, the in-game pre-order bonus quest, the season pass, 3 days early access, and an Ultimate Pack which includes gear and weapon sets for both in-game main characters Naoe and Yasuke. An item called the Skiryu Beast and the Dragon Tooth trinket. It also includes The Sekiryu Hideout Pack that includes “four unique armaments to customze the hideout for your shinobi league.” It also grants players five skill points and includes The Red Dragon filter in Photo mode.
Finally, the fourth option is Ubisoft+. It is priced at $17.99 per month and includes everything in the Ultimate Edition.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows price listing
In a video titled “This is why people pirate games..” Asmongold went off on the price points, “They’re doing it again. Who cares about the main character. The game’s $130.”
He then added, “Everybody’s mad about the character. Maybe this is their strategy: Add in a main character for a game that is really controversial and that way it’ll distract people from the fact that you’re trying to get people to spend $130 for the f***ing game.”
After discovering the game includes a season pass, Asmongold stated, “So, let me get this straight, you buy the game and you don’t even get everything in the game. It’s day one DLC. Why do people buy this s**t?”
He then posited that Ubisoft is pricing the various editions the way they did in order to funnel people to Ubisoft+, “It’s priced this way and it’s created this way in order to get you and funnel you over [Ubisoft+]. That’s why it’s got an outline around it. It might as well have a neon sign pointing over to it.”
“And I know this sounds crazy, they don’t want you to buy [the Ultimate Edition],” he asserted. “So psychologically you get them in with [the Standard Edition]. You upsell them to [the Ultimate Edition]. You discount it down to [Ubisoft+] and then you get them thinking they’re getting a good deal on this price. Whenever they came to the store they were only looking for this price.”
He then declared, “This is, I think, a lot worse. Like I don’t really care. If they want to butcher Japanese history, this is not my problem, but [the pricing] is a problem.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Asmongold’s theory that Ubisoft is attempting to funnel players to Ubisoft+ is a strong one. The company’s Director of Subscriptions Philippe Tremblay told Games Industry back in January that he’s trying to get gamers to have a shift in attitudes so that they get comfortable not owning their games.
He said, “One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.”
However, Tremblay did indicate that gamers would still have access to the games, “I still have two boxes of DVDs. I definitely understand the gamers perspective with that. But as people embrace that model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you’ll be able to access them when you feel like. That’s reassuring. Streaming is also a thing that works really well with subscription. So you pay when you need it, as opposed to paying all the time.”
Key art for Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
That last comment would end up being a lie given Ubisoft shut down The Crew in April and players that purchased the game digitally through Steam are no longer able to play it. In fact, Ubisoft announced in December before Tremblay’s comments to Games Industry that the game would be shut down.
In a blog post, they wrote, “Today, The Crew 1, including all its editions, and virtual currency packs, will be delisted from all online stores. The game will remain playable until March 31st, 2024, for all The Crew 1 owners. After this date, the servers will be shut down, which means that the game will not be accessible anymore on any platform, including PC / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / PlayStation 4 / Amazon Luna and Ubisoft+.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Nevertheless, Tremblay did inform Games Industry, “The point is not to force users to go down one route or another. We offer purchase, we offer subscription, and it’s the gamer’s preference that is important here. We are seeing some people who buy choosing to subscribe now, but it all works.”
He also noted, “There are multiple behaviours. There are definitely a lot of people who come in for one game and then decide to buy it after [the subscription ends]. That’s part of the reality and that’s ok with us.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
What do you make of Asmongold balking at the $130 price point? What do you make of his theory that Ubisoft is attempting to funnel players to their Ubisoft+ subscription?
No matter how you shine a turd, it’s still a turd.
Kind of a right take from Asmongold, except this game won’t be worth pirating at all.
Wish people would stop giving money to hostile businesses like ubisoft