Assassin’s Creed Shadows Animus Hub Rumors Quashed As Ubisoft Breaks Silence, Denies Paid Battle Pass Allegations

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is seemingly not out of hot water with gamers just yet, although this time, the flak seems to have been mostly unwarranted. Earlier this week, rumors popped up on Reddit claiming to reveal the Assassin’s Creed Shadows Animus Hub, which was supposedly the upcoming RPG’s dedicated launcher, and a host of in-game season passes and rewards. The leak purports to detail the first free battle pass, which is referred to as “Eye in the Dark” and will consist of 20 reward tiers. Completing the battle pass allegedly rewards 9,050 Isu coins, which can be used to purchase various cosmetics in the form of character, weapon, and mount customization options. Somewhat comically, there appear to be in-game collaborations with the likes of VISA, Red Bull, Intel, BAPE Clothing and Sprecher, although how these will play out in the game is a mystery. This news made quite a stir when it was first announced, since Ubisoft was very clear when it confirmed the game’s delay last month that there would be no season passes in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

As it turns out, though, the rumors were kicking up enough speculation about the return of paid subscriptions, battle passes, and season passes that Ubisoft took to its official Discord server to address the rumors directly. Although Ubisoft confirmed that the Animus Hub is a piece of software it has been working on, all the content and rewards offered in the Animus Hub will be free content. Ubisoft was, however, careful with its words, not denying the existence of season passes and battle passes, instead only commenting that those passes will not be paid. Additionally, Ubisoft confirmed that there will be additional in-game content available for free in the Animus Hub.

In Ubisoft’s own words:

It has come to our attention that inaccurate rumors have been circulating online regarding the upcoming Animus Hub (codename Infinity). We wanted to take this occasion to clarify that:

• All the rewards available in the Animus Hub will be entirely free.
• There are no paid subscriptions or paid battle pass featured in the Animus Hub.
• Players will have access to regular content & missions at no extra cost.

We will unveil more details about it closer to the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Thank you!

One can’t help but wonder what the purpose of the Animus Hub is if Ubisoft doesn’t intend to use it as a monetization vehicle, although there seem to be rewards available in the Animus Hub that are purchased with in-game currency. The full list of cosmetics and assets seemingly available via the Animus Hub can be seen in the Reddit post detailing the leak, however the images in the Imgur album have since been removed by Ubisoft via a DMCA takedown. The only two remaining images available from the Reddit post are embedded above, and they depict Yasuke in the Animus Hub and the design on the Isu coins.