What you need to know
- Assassin's Creed Mirage is the next game in the long-running Assassin's Creed franchise.
- Shortly after the game was announced, fans noticed that the game had an Adults Only rating on the Xbox storefront, as well as in one of Ubisoft's livestreams.
- The game description mentioned "Real Gambling" in addition to the usual disclaimers of violence, harsh language and nudity.
- Ubisoft says this rating and the description of gambling are a mistake that is being fixed.
One of Ubisoft's many recent Assassin's Creed announcements was quickly found to have a controversial attachment, something that the French publisher is now addressing.
Fans of Assassin's Creed noted that the Xbox store page for Assassin's Creed Mirage claimed the game had an Adults Only (AO) rating, with the description of the game claiming it featured "Real Gambling" alongside the standard content you'd find in many M-rated games like violence, profanity, and sexual content. The AO logo was also seen on the livestream for the game.
Now, Ubisoft is claiming this was an error. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft explained that "Following the announcement of Assassin's Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages mistakenly displayed the game for preorders with an Adults Only ESRB rating and are being fixed."
"While Assassin's Creed Mirage is still pending rating, Ubisoft wants to reassure players that no real gambling or lootboxes are present in the game," Ubisoft added.
AO, while technically being the highest rating that can be assigned to a game by the ESRB, is rarely used, as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all refuse to host AO-rated games. While allowed on Steam, AO games are hidden by default, with only a tiny handful of titles receiving the rating in the past several years.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is being billed as a return to the classic gameplay formula by Ubisoft, as the game is far smaller than the RPG-like titles such as Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. The game stars Basim, a character introduced in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and is slated for launch at some point in 2023.
In addition to Assassin's Creed Mirage, Ubisoft also recently detailed the future of the franchise, sharing that the next big games in development are Assassin's Creed Codename Red and Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, which take place in feudal Japan and the Holy Roman Empire during the witch trials, respectively. Both titles will be part of Assassin's Creed Infinity, Ubisoft's live-service platform being built for the series.
