Ubisoft says pop-up ads in Assasin’s Creed Mirage were a “technical error”

A three-second advertisement that appears while accessing the pause menu has caused consternation among players despite claims from Ubisoft that this was merely a “technical error.”

The issue initially came to light on the Xbox forum as one user posted a video capture of their attempt to access the map in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Before they could, they were served a pop-up showing Assassin’s Creed Mirage was available for a 20% discount.

Players also confirmed that they were served the same advertisement while playing the game on PlayStation. Whether this issue occurred in other games is unclear, but many were keen to speculate on why this might have happened in the first place.

In a statement to The Verge, Ubisoft quickly denied that the pop-up was anything other than a mistake, saying a “technical error” caused the ad to appear.

Players skeptical of Ubisoft’s “technical error” explanation

A spokesperson for the company, Fabien Darrigues, said: “We have been made aware that some players encountered pop-up ads while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday. This was the result of a technical error that we addressed as soon as we learned of the issue.”

Many were very skeptical of the official statement, instead postulating that this was the company testing the waters to gauge fan response. One pointed out that, from a technical standpoint, this is a problematic explanation to agree with, saying: “Ah yes. An ‘error’ that just so happened to be programmed into the game to appear.”

Another added it would be enough to stop them playing entirely, saying: “If this becomes a reality and the norm I will stop gaming. As an escape from daily life, a way of relaxing, calming my mind and pure fun this would shatter that illusion. No, just no.”

It is also worth noting here that Ubisoft is a significant investor in French technology start-up Gadsme, which specializes in in-game advertising. At the time of writing, Ubisoft has at least $8 million tied up in the venture, but whether this issue is directly connected to that investment remains unclear.

In any case, fan response to the potential new direction for advertising has been overwhelmingly negative. Whether this will be enough to make companies think twice about doing the same in the future is another thing entirely.