Ubisoft is adding XP boosts to Assassin's Creed Valhalla as an optional in-game purchase. Ubisoft's new open-world action game casts players as the Viking Eivor and chronicles their adventures during the raid of England. The game has been well received by multiple critics, including renowned horror director John Carpenter, who unexpectedly took to Twitter to sing the game's praises late last month.
Microtransactions have been a regrettably common feature of the Assassin's Creed series for a long time now. The previous game in the series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, had a lot of them. It actually gets the credit for introducing the notorious XP boost, an upgrade which could be purchased for real money and which would increase all XP gained in the game after it was obtained. Fans despised this feature, calling it an exploitative pay to win function. Level progression in the base version of Odyssey was particularly slow and grindy, implicitly encouraging players to cave and buy the upgrade. Fans were relieved when Valhalla launched last month with no such XP boost, and with a much better-paced progression system which rendered such a microtransaction all the more unwanted.
Unfortunately, Game Informer reports that the onerous XP boost is now present in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The upgrade costs 1000 Helix credits, which comes out to about $10 USD. Once it's obtained, it gives players 50% more XP across all their saved games. It can also be bought as part of a bundle for $15 USD which boosts both XP and money. Ubisoft has informed Game Informer that this boost was added thanks to the wealth of DLC content which is on its way to Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Ubisoft claims that it's worried about the players who don't have time to fully explore the base game and acquire the best gear.
It remains to be seen how the XP boost will go over this time around. As previously mentioned, it's less incentivized in Valhalla than it was in Odyssey. And such a substantial premium boost is generally less dreadful in a singleplayer environment, where fans who buy the boost don't have an advantage over other players. At the same time, though, microtransactions are a big issue in the gaming industry, to the point that Australia now requires warnings to be printed if they're present in a game.
Fans have responded well to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and the good work it does in channeling the Viking fantasy. It's been reviewed very well, especially on next-gen consoles, and it's sold more copies than any other game in the franchise. With success like that, maybe fans will be willing to put up with a few optional microtransactions. That being said, it's not a great sign, either for Ubisoft or for Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Source: Game Informer