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Ubisoft reckons microtransactions help make games "more fun", but still wants to ensure they "respect the player experience"

Everybody loves a microtransaction! Or at least, that appears to be the line publishers like rolling out whenever justi…

Ubisoft's made the proclamation in its most recent annual report (initially released last month but only now doing the rounds - possibly because the document is nearly 400 pages long), sharing the sentiment in its Group Business Model and Strategy section. Unfortunately, all this appears to be built on the questionable premise that "[its] monetisation offer within premium games makes the player experience more fun by allowing them to personalise their avatars or progress more quickly." There's no doubt truth in the claim players get enjoyment from dolling up their avatars in "premium" multiplayer titles (even if they might get more if they didn't have to pay silly money for their cosmetics), but Ubisoft's stance on microtransaction-enabled progression has long been criticised and questioned, particularly in single-player games such as Assassin's Creed - is the company really balancing its titles around 'respecting the player experience' when there's additional money to be made by doing otherwise?, some have wondered; does the existence of progress-boosting microtransactions really make the base game "more fun" or does it just make it worse?

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