This weekend Ubisoft officially announced Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a “back to basics” adventure set in Baghdad, but fans quickly noticed something odd related to the game – on multiple storefronts the game was listed with an AO (Adults Only) rating from the ESRB. The Ubisoft Forward presentation was also preceded by an AO rating notice. While Mirage will undoubtedly have the same violence and edgy content that have earned almost all past AC titles M ratings, it seemed the AO rating was due to in-game “real gambling.” A rather concerning development for a series that has skirted ethical lines when it came to microtransactions in the past.

　　That said, according to Ubisoft, it was all a big mix up. The French publisher provided the following statement about the Assassin’s Creed Mirage rating to GamesIndustry.biz…

　　"Following the announcement of Assassin's Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages mistakenly displayed the game for pre-orders 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."

　　Hmmm, well that doesn’t really explain how the AO rating ended up attached to Ubisoft’s own stream. There’s something more going on here than Ubisoft is letting on methinks. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, there’s basically no way Assassin’s Creed Mirage will launch with an AO rating, as many retailers and online storefronts won’t sell AO games. There hasn’t been a game that's officialy launched with an AO rating since 2015’s intentionally controversial Hatred. If something about Mirage needs to be changed to secure an M rating, I’m quite sure those changes will be made.

　　Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming to PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Luna sometime in 2023.