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Assassin's Creed: Unity microtransaction shop wasn't fully live in retail copies

N

Nibel

Member
yveszzuri.png
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
mid83 said:
I think the OP needs to be edited. It seems like this was an issue with the servers being down while reviewers were playing vs some sort of alteration to review copies. The OP and title seems to allude to some sort of conspiracy which doesn't seem to be true.
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What would you like me to add? I added Totilo's clarification tweets already.
 
D

Ducktail

Member
I'm really grateful Destiny(Activision) and Watch Dogs(Ubisoft) happened. They taught me a valuable lesson: never pre-order a game from either of these companies ever again, no matter how high the hype for the game is within the gaming community.

While I did enjoy Watch Dogs, despite being underwhelming after all of that immense advertising, I felt like I had wasted money and time with Destiny.

I was so hyped for AC, but I stayed my hand and i'm glad. Scumbag company, hiding microtransactions and shit.
 
A

Alienous

Member
MHWilliams said:
No, but I didn't try. The options weren't hidden though. Not working and "hidden" are two different things. AC Initiates wasn't working for most of my playthrough either.

Kotaku even took a screenshot for its review. That's how it appears in the game. You go to "Estore" and it's the first option there.

mjx1omb4i7zkygnlvzat.png
Click to expand...

Without the prices, as it is suggested it appeared in the review build, that is still shady shit.

Put up microtransactions without the possibility of being laughed out of the room for asking players for $99 after a $60 purchase. Own up to that shit. Nah, it's a day one surprise via reviews, including the ridiculous prices.

Fuck Ubisoft.
 
B

Brerlappin

Member
I said in the ACU thread I was done with Ubi. This isn't the final nail in the coffin, this is the fucking headstone covered in moss and collapsed in a pile of dirt. Fuck this company.
 
I

iLoveVN

Member
So, did Ubisoft just take EA's seat as the worst gaming company??

More seriously, this is an awful thing to do X__X
 
iJudged

iJudged

Banned
mid83 said:
I think the OP needs to be edited. It seems like this was an issue with the servers being down while reviewers were playing vs some sort of alteration to review copies. The OP and title seems to allude to some sort of conspiracy which doesn't seem to be true.
Click to expand...
Let it.... Burn
MpDc7VgWtAXyehYYyFNQjp8DY5u2Nc0KRtuGt4mLI90oxfNSOkoZvHibXm485bNs-CQozQY4vY09eM0pwn4tZ3BkjcVfLdcaEOisbLy5dlH8DHupAta5Ixwl_XGnoEQbYIuaHgAuTpqjrbjt8MXD-pXIJSkTec71=w500-h210-nc
 
O

Ozium

Member
Megasoum said:
There is no such thing as a "Review copy"... The journalists got a normal retail version of the game.

The store servers were simply down until very recently which is 100% common with pre-release reviews. There is nothing fishy going one, nothing special that didn''t happen already with 100s of other games in the past.


The only thing happening here is GAF being its normal self and jumping on a cheap occasion to bash Ubisoft.
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the store servers were down until how recently? the review embargo ended 12 hours after the game released, and you'd think that they'd want the servers up when the game goes out... how, then, are reviewers seeing this now?
 
M

MHWilliams

Member
Ozium said:
isn't that the entire crux of this thread? that it is in the retail copies but not the review copies?
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I received a review copy. It was a retail box.

SteveWinwood said:
Game is live. We know it has these micro transactions. Part of this thread was spurred from a journalist not being able to distinguish if they were in fact real or not thus the "hidden" part. It was not completely clear.

The "hack item" specifically did not have any indication it was in fact tied to the pay currency that was in the game though. It has caused confusion and some thought it was a joke, I'd say that not being upfront entirely about what it was is incompetence at best and hiding at worst. "The DLC store is not operational for this item currently but in the future you will be able to buy enhancements to your game here" is a better message for a review copy than "SERVER ERROR 197560374-4739".
Click to expand...

I can agree with that, but again, it's not hidden. The Estore is always there. They didn't strip it out and then add it back in. It was there and it doesn't work.

Again, Kotaku noticed it in their review:

But then there's optional but questionable stuff like this, a real-money way to obtain the game's optional "hack" currency instead of using the in-game currency you earn by finishing most missions..
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I certainly had no problem telling they were in-game micros.

Alienous said:
Without the prices, as it is suggested it appeared in the review build, that is still shady shit.

Put up microtransactions without the possibility of being laughed out of the room for asking players for $99 after a $60 purchase. Own up to that shit. Nah, it's a day one surprise via reviews, including the ridiculous prices.

Fuck Ubisoft.
Click to expand...

Okay, you can be angry at the microtransactions, I just don't understand this issue with the pricing being there. I tend to avoid it because its real-money currency. The fact that we didn't know 1000 Hack points could be bought for $10 instead of $5 is a problem?

Aaron said:
Even if it's just this, it still means reviewers couldn't judge how expensive or extensive the microtransactions were, which is why they're barely mentioned. That aspect of the game was essentially ignored in reviews, but the game was designed with them in mind.
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This I can vaguely agree with, though it and all the others connections were something we mentioned.
 
D

dmr87

Member
Probably just a side-effect of the servers being down, IF it was done intentionally to hide it then that's just ridiculous.
 
TheMissingLink

TheMissingLink

Member
There needs to be a HUGE backlash/boycott on Ubisoft. Been doing this shit for YEARS and this latest round has been unbelievably horrendous.
 
O

Ozium

Member
Ducktail said:
I'm really grateful Destiny(Activision) and Watch Dogs(Ubisoft) happened. They taught me a valuable lesson: never pre-order a game from either of these companies ever again, no matter how high the hype for the game is within the gaming community.

While I did enjoy Watch Dogs, despite being underwhelming after all of that immense advertising, I felt like I had wasted money and time with Destiny.

I was so hyped for AC, but I stayed my hand and i'm glad. Scumbag company, hiding microtransactions and shit.
Click to expand...

your first mistake was to trust ACTIVISION and UBISOFT in the first place...

do you trust EA also? just curious
 
Gray Matter

Gray Matter

Member
Nibel said:
If you want to make any impact, then skip Far Cry 4 as well.
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I am considering that, but there's nothing else for me that day. Played GTA already, dragon age I've never played and don't want to jump in so late. I might end up just not buying it. Ubisoft doesn't deserve my money.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. Maybe they didn't intentionally try to deceive reviewers, it doesn't really matter though. The game is what it is, and the micro transactions are what they are: shameful.
 
I

i-Lo

Member
...But oh wait, in that feed one of them does inform that it's not mandatory just that the most "desperate" folks may opt to unlock in this fashion. So I wonder if that makes it any better.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Funny how the co-op worked, one of the game's selling points, and all the shitty online stuff didn't.

i-Lo said:
...But oh wait, in that feed one of them does inform that it's not mandatory just that the most "desperate" folks may opt to unlock in this fashion. So I wonder if that makes it any better.
Click to expand...
That's how all microtransactions work though. Most people pay nothing or only a little. That's not who they're targeting. They're after the whales who will pay big for these. So the game's system of cosmetic unlocks has been built around preying on a relatively small group of people.
 
R

RetroStu

Banned
I already said in another thread about how disillusioned i was with the current industry compared to past generation. This whole AC: Unity thing is just like the final nail in the coffin.
 
D

Delstius

Member
What a day.
Not sure if the reviewers didn't put enough thought or if it wasn't crystal clear that it would be there though. One thing for sure is that almost no review mentions it.
 
S

StoopKid

Member
MHWilliams said:
No, but I didn't try. The options weren't hidden though. Not working and "hidden" are two different things. AC Initiates wasn't working for most of my playthrough either.

Kotaku even took a screenshot for its review. That's how it appears in the game. You go to "Estore" and it's the first option there.

mjx1omb4i7zkygnlvzat.png




100 percent explicit? No, but seeing as we've been around this block a few times I guessed pretty quickly. When the in-game price is 25,000 and the Hack currency price is 800, I tend to go "hurm, microtransactions."
Click to expand...

Holy shit at those prices.
 
M

Megasoum

Banned
Ozium said:
the store servers were down until how recently? the review embargo ended 12 hours after the game released, and you'd think that they'd want the servers up when the game goes out... how, then, are reviewers seeing this now?
Click to expand...

The podcast quoted in the OP was recorded yesterday and Jeff was most probably talking about when he played the game over the week-end.

Now why the reviewers (Giantbomb did not review the game btw) didn't mention the microtransaction then that's a different issue.
 
E

elelunicy

Member
Why should the server for microtransactions work when the game isn't even released? This also proves you can perfectly play the game without any microtransactions.

People really like going crazy over nothing, don't they?
 
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