Ubisoft is in hot water with its fans, following the discovery of pop-up ads in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. First appearing on Reddit, fans noticed Black Friday Ads appearing when players tried to use the in-game map on Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Unsurprisingly, this was received very poorly.
Shortly after the discovery, Ubisoft spokesperson Fabien Darrigues released a statement to The Verge, dismissing the ads as the result of a “technical error.”
“We have been made aware that some players encountered pop-up ads while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday,” said Darrigues. “This was the result of a technical error that we addressed as soon as we learned of the issue.”
It’s unknown what type of error would accidentally cause ads to pop-up mid-game, which has left many skeptical of Ubisoft’s explanation. Instead, it’s speculated that this was intentional on Ubisoft’s part and that they were experimenting with ad placement within video games.
This hasn’t been the first time the idea of in-game advertisements has been passed around. As Kotaku has pointed out, streaming services already have cheaper ad-based plans for people to watch their content. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to wonder if companies like Microsoft or Ubisoft would take inspiration for their own subscription plans.
Thankfully for Assassin’s Creed fans, the ads are now gone. Hopefully, companies within the industry can take a hint from the backlash. With the previous controversy at Unity ads anytime soon.