Player Outrage Dampened Ubisoft Greed Somewhat, $40 Edition To Stay And So Is Loot Box Issue

Video game publishers have a habit of trying to squeeze as much money from their customers as they are allowed to get away with. Ubisoft tried to do this recently with its hit multiplayer title Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege by getting rid of its $40 Standard Edition and offering a $60 Advanced Edition in its place. The outrage from players forced the publisher to backtrack on this issue but not everything is perfect.

In an official post by Ubisoft on Reddit, a representative of the company wrote that they heard what the players had to say and were willing to adjust accordingly. This means keeping the Standard Edition right where it is.

“For those of you who have raised concerns over the Starter Edition when it comes to acquiring Operators, we will be sharing more information about our next steps during the Six Invitational. We recognize that this has been a point of frustration for new players, as well as existing players bringing their friends into the game, and have been working on how to make this process more fluid,” the post reads.

While this addresses one issue regarding a recent announcement by Ubisoft, there is still the matter of the loot box matter that’s tied to its upcoming event called Outbreak. As Kotaku notes, players are not happy that some character items can only be accessed by purchasing them with real money.

Now, there are a few key points to consider here, starting with what is actually in the loot boxes. Called “Outbreak Packs,” these contain 50 unique items that were added specifically to the event. Buying them will cost $2.50 and Ubisoft guarantees that there is no randomness to these items. Players will basically get exactly what they expect, which include unique skins.

This is a departure from how other multiplayer titles handle their microtransactions, where the chances of getting the skins that players want are almost in the single digits. This was not good enough for long-time Rainbow Six players, however, many of whom are displeased that there is a paywall at all.