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Assassin’s Creed Infinity has a new name and no microtransactions

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.
Ubisoft

Ubisoft quietly confirmed new details on Assassin’s Creed Infinity, a hub that’s set to launch alongside Assassin’s Creed Shadows, on the franchise’s official Reddit on Friday. It not only revealed that Animus Hub would be the official name, but that the rewards would be free.

The post was in response to a datamined leak (since taken down via DMCA request) that purportedly revealed a lot of information about the Animus Hub and how it would integrate with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Along with revealing the new name, we learned that the Animus Hub would include a battle pass with cosmetics that can be purchased with Isu Coins, the in-game currency. This led to people assuming that there would be microtransactions involved.

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Assassin’s Creed Reddit community manager Ubi_Waldo called the rumors “inaccurate,” but did confirm the Animus Hub name. Ubi_Waldo clarified that while there will be rewards in the hub, they’d be “entirely free.” “There are no paid subscriptions or paid battle pass featured in the Animus Hub,” the post read.

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A Message From the Team on the Animus Hub
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There’s been some confusion around what the Animus Hub would actually be. Assassin’s Creed Infinity was always a code name, so we expected that to change, but Ubisoft announced it as part of a “cross-studio, collaborative structure” between Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec that’s led by veterans from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Was it a new game? Was it just the name for the team? Either way, Ubisoft seemed to be putting the weight of Assassin’s Creed’s future on its shoulders.

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Official Cinematic World Premiere Trailer

Then, a Bloomberg report claimed that Infinity would be a “massive online platform that evolves over time.” It would apparently contain multiple settings that would change as the franchise moved forward. That was also vague. Maybe it was a live-service title, but as we found out in a later IGN interview, it’s just a hub that will host all the Assassin’s Creed games starting with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It’s like a launcher, but with an Animus interface that will tell its separate story — hence the new name.

However, in 2022, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Animus Hub would not be free to play. We’ll have to wait to see the final result when Shadows launches on February 14, 2025.

Carli Velocci
Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…
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