Ubisoft has blasted an in-game pop-up ad for a Black Friday discount on "Assassin's Creed Mirage" as a "technical error"

A clip of a full-screen 20% discount offer greeting players who open the "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" map has gone viral, with many players on Reddit claiming it would be an instant uninstall if it happened to them

In a post to X, Ubisoft acknowledged that the video was legitimate, but failed to apologize for the destructive ad, claiming that "a technical error caused it to be placed in the game in error, but it has now been fixed"

"Our intention was to display the Assassin's Creed Mirage promotion in the main menu of other Assassin's Creed games as part of the franchise news," the company claimed

"We want to ensure the best possible player experience, and these disruptive pop-ups were promptly removed upon learning of the issue," the company continued

Some reactions to this assertion can be called skeptical And somewhat troublingly, a community note added to this post highlights that the full-screen ad on the map had previously appeared in a Let's Play video released four years ago (shown at 35:35, 36:54, and 47:39)

Whether one believes it is a true bug or simply Ubisoft backtracking in the face of a massive backlash, it is good that this is not the new normal

As one Redditor wrote, full-screen ads that interrupt play are "trashy android games," and it is hard to argue with that sentiment The only reason mobile games have ads is because they are free or very cheap Ubisoft, which sold more than 10 million copies of "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" in its first two years, has absolutely no excuse to copy this tactic

What about the explanation that Ubisoft intended the promotion to appear on the main menu, which some players argue is going too far to aggressively advertise anywhere in a $70 game, but just for reference, what appears on the main menu and during the action There is a world of difference between the same ad appearing and leaving the scene

Personally, I am more or less fine with the former, but find the latter deeply offensive In fact, the main menu promotion has been part of the Triple-A game for years, and I have found it useful at times If you like a game, how could you not want to hear about DLC to keep that experience going a little longer? [especially in a game like "Assassin's Creed Odyssey," which takes an average of 65 hours to complete

For years, social gaming contracts have dictated that if a title is free, you can expect ads and microtransactions, but if it is paid for, it must be a complete, ad-free experience This has been undermined over the years, but it's nice to see a line being drawn on full-blown in-game advertising At least for now