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Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Wants More Money For You To Play Less

By Daniel George

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Barring a title that it’s a wonder how it gets made each year due to its audience’s size (i.e: MLB: The Show), full-priced games should not have microtransactions. Period. Usually, they provide little more than means of making it easier to jump through the hoops of the gameplay laid ahead of its players. That’s why it’s frustrating to hear that Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate will follow in the footsteps of the terribly broken (at launch) Assassin’s Creed: Unity and will once again feature microtransactions.

Answering questions from IGN readers, one answered by Senior Producer for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Francois Pelland, involved where an in-game shop will allow you to buy in-game money with real money to get easier gear. The answer was not what one (outside of a Ubisoft stock holder) would hope for.

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“Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will include paid options to save time and accelerate progress,” Pelland responded. “The model for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is quite similar to Black Flag, allowing players who do not have time to fully explore our huge game world to still be able to eventually acquire the game’s most powerful gear as well as other items. Rest assured, all of AC Syndicate’s content is available without paying anything additional and the game has been balanced such that microtransactions are 100% optional.”

Whenever I hear someone involved with the production or design of a video game explain microtransactions as a means of getting around time restrictions, it seems like the game was then constructed to feel slow and clunky in progression in order to necessitate and incentivize such microtransactions. In Assassin’s Creed worlds that have overworld maps resemble a Jackson Pollock painting, with paint dots resembling in-game collectibles, one can’t help but connect those dots. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate will still likely sell millions, and will still be one of the more successful launches of 2015. When you’re already making so much money off the franchise, penny pinching in such a manner just comes off as cheap.

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate will launch for the PS4 and Xbox One on October 23rd. The PC release (thank Valve for Steam Refunds, in case it’s buggy at launch yet again) will be released on November 19th.

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