Ubisoft denies latest Assassin's Creed has Adults Only rating, real gambling
Publisher says rating still pending despite showcase prefaced by AO logo and Xbox store page with gambling content descriptor
Ubisoft has said AO for Adults Only ratings appearing on Assassin's Creed Mirage store pages this weekend were a mistake.
The game was announced Saturday during Ubisoft's Forward showcase event, the livestream of which was prefaced by an ESRB AO for Adults Only logo.
An Xbox store listing for Mirage also carried an AO for Adults Only 18+ rating, with content descriptors for intense violence, blood and gore, sexual themes, partial nudity, and real gambling.
"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," the publisher told GamesIndustry.biz.
"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."
The publisher did not explain how the AO rating found its way into the official Ubisoft Forward livestream.
AO ratings are exceedingly rare in recent years; a game has not launched with one since 2015's Hatred.
One of the reasons for the rarity is a reluctance from retailers and digital storefronts to carry games with an AO rating, and policies from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft to not allow AO-rated games to be released on their platforms.