AC Valhalla Fans Are Furious At Ubisoft Prioritizing Microtransactions Over DLC

Assassin's Creed Valhalla fans are expressing their frustrations with how Ubisoft has prioritized microtransactions over post-launch DLC and updates.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla players aren’t happy with how Ubisoft has handled monetization and post-launch content, thus far, and are making their grievances known online. Ahead of the title’s November 2020 roll out, Ubisoft unveiled a roadmap replete with paid content plans. Compared to AC Odyssey, said plans didn't include as many free DLC details. Add to that Valhalla’s aggressive microtransactions and there lies the perfect recipe for backlash.

Like Odyssey before it, Valhalla launched with a slew of in-game purchasing options in tow. Unlike Odyssey, however, Ubisoft has done little to address the issue in its newest release. And the issues are aplenty. Players who want good-looking armor with decent stat bonuses have to buy them via the in-game store, for instance. Meanwhile, the armor sets available in-game are either a grind to unlock or don't appear until much later in the experience. It’s a far cry from Odyssey, which had an exorbitant amount of gear for players to pick and choose from.

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Fans began questioning Ubisoft's Valhalla-related priorities earlier this week following a viral Reddit post by user Zuazzer. The post, which as of writing sits at roughly 4,800 likes, notes that Valhalla's in-game store is selling nine armor sets, the same number of sets available in the base game. It hasn't helped that Ubisoft continues to prioritize pushing out more monetized content, as opposed to launching additional updates to improve the game. Zuazzer additionally identifies monetized cosmetics as a concern, since they affect gameplay and are often overpriced. A thread of replies to the Redditor wholeheartedly agrees, with many fans recalling how WBIE was forced to remove Middle-earth: Shadow of War's microtransactions due to unyielding backlash from critics and players alike.

It is indeed concerning that much of Ubisoft's focus seems centered on microtransactions. That the publisher is just now coming under fire for such practices warrants attention, too. Are in-game purchases so prevalent that they now fail to receive pushback when the likes of Ubisoft overemphasize them? Or perhaps this particular conversation has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, which launched just one month after AC Valhalla?

Whatever the case, Ubisoft has yet to respond to the hot water it's now found itself submerged in. How the publisher will address the matter, should it choose to do so, presently remains a mystery. But here's to hoping fans have their concerns addressed before AC Valhalla's first batch of paid DLC is deployed this spring.

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.