Ubisoft’s annual financial report isn’t exactly “for us”—that is, people who like videogames and not stocks—but surely someone at the company had to know saying microtransactions make games “more fun” in a publicly-available document wouldn’t play well.
The report, filed on June 19, is pretty extensive, but only ten pages in, it dives into key elements of Ubisoft’s “group business model and strategy,” which includes further monetization after the initial purchase in the company’s games.
As reported by MP1st, the report includes a key point about “the adoption of monetization and engagement policies that respect the player experience and are sustainable in the long term.”
This section includes two seemingly contradictory statements, reading, “At Ubisoft, the golden rule when developing premium games is to allow players to enjoy the game in full without having to spend more. Our monetization offer within premium games makes the player experience more fun by allowing them to personalize their avatars or progress more quickly, however this is always optional.”
Microtransactions are one thing in casual free-to-play games, especially when it only involves things that don’t give players an unfair advantage, like cosmetic items. This is a completely different conversation when it comes to “premium games”. If you’re paying for a game up front, it’s a lot harder to stomach microtransactions or additional purchases, unless it’s something substantial like DLC.
“Monetization and engagement policies that respect the player experience” feels like a half-hearted attempt to avoid much-reviled “pay to win” strategies, or otherwise aggravating marketing of in-game purchases. Even so, the bare suggestion that digital deluxe outfits or premium weapon skins are being included for our sake is laughable. It would be more respectful if Ubisoft didn’t pretend microtransactions are something players would ever classify as “fun.”