Ubisoft blames a “technical error” for in-game Assassin’s Creed ads

Ubisoft has blamed the Black Friday deal pop-ups on a technical error that has reportedly been fixed.

The Assassin’s Creed developer came under fire when several players reported their gameplay being interrupted by pop-up ads whenever they went to look at the game’s map. The pop-ups were reportedly advertising discounts on Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the latest game in the series.

Check out Assassin’s Creed Mirage below

These weren’t minuscule adverts either, they were enormous banners that took up the majority of screen space and hid the player’s gameplay, causing outrage and disappointment that Ubisoft would resort to such aggressive marketing tactics.

Luckily the problem has since been addressed, with Ubisoft apologising for the interruption, and claiming the ads became visible following a technical error that has since been fixed.

The full statement, given to Eurogamer, reads "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."

Whether you believe it was an honest mistake or not is your own prerogative, but at least it’s been quickly fixed so people can enjoy the games as intended.

Weirdly enough Ubisoft isn’t the only company to take fire for in-game ads this year, as Warner Bros Games was in a similar boat a few months ago with Mortal Kombat 11.

Players wanting to enjoy the fighting game they paid good money for were disgusted to find adverts present in the game’s menus promoting Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter spin-off game that couldn’t be further from the gore and violence of Mortal Kombat.

While Ubisoft has hopefully learned its lesson, it does worryingly suggest gaming companies are getting bolder when it comes to ways of advertising their latest releases and could set a dark precedent for games to come.