Due to countless mini-DLCs, the re-release of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag drew the ire of fans upon its release. But apparently, the unloved add-ons aren’t selling too badly after all.
If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to make a video game publisher unpopular, it’s probably microtransactions in single-player games.
When Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced was released, it caused a stir because there were so many mini-DLCs available for purchase right away that players could actually spend more money on them than on the entire game. But despite thebacklash on forums and in Steam reviews, this additional content is apparently selling quite well.
The store is being looted
This assessment comesanalyst Rhys Elliot, who views the launch of Black Flag Resynced as a major success:
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was a much-needed success for Ubisoft on Steam: 701,000 copies were sold, corresponding to gross revenue of $35 million, plusnearly $1 million from the DLCs, which were available on the very first day. The majority of players jumped in early, with the number of daily active users (DAU) peaking at 416,000 on the second day.
The DLC sales figures are estimates by the analyst, for which he provides no further evidence. However, there is an official figure for the sales of the game itself: Ubisoft announced that Black Flag Resynced sold two million copies. So the one million dollars in revenue will likely be topped off by a hefty sum.
2 million copies sold on launch day!
To everyone who has jumped aboard the Jackdaw, shared their adventures, posted screenshots, shared gameplay, and celebrated this launch with us: thank you.
We’ve also been following your feedback closely. Many of you have helped us identify… pic.twitter.com/DvFihLodZ4
— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) July 11, 2026
While Ubisoft naturally earns significantly less than a million from DLC sales on Steam—after all, Steam itself takes its cut—the numbers do at least give us an idea of how often players have purchased the DLCs. At an average price of about $9.50 per DLC, the DLCs have collectively soldaround 100,000 times—and that’s just on Steam.
On the other hand, this means that only a relatively small percentage of players actually spend money on them. We’re also interested in your opinion: Do you buy smaller DLCs for your favorite games, or are they generally not your thing?
Microtransactions aren’t new to Assassin’s Creed or Black Flag—they were already present in the original 2013 game. Back then, Ubisoft offered resource packs for ship upgrades and maps (with markers) for collectibles at significantly lower prices of one to two euros. So even back then, gameplay advantages were being sold to some extent. However, skin packs for larger sums weren’t available yet.
The mini-DLCs for the remake are primarily skins for Edward and his ship, and the collectible maps are still available. Only the resource packs didn’t make it into the remake’s store.
At launch, this drew a barrage of negative criticism, including over 400 negative Steam reviews and a Reddit post with over 20,000 upvotes. Since then, however, the Steam reviews have settled into a much more positive range, with 76 percent positive: People apparently really like the game itself.
Microtransactions aren’t the only topic of discussion in Assassin’s Creed right now. Another big one: feet. In Black Flag Resynced, thousands of buccaneers are apparently raving about dirty pirate feet. You can read more about this in the box above if feet are a topic of interest to you as well.
There’s also exciting news there about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Hexe. That’s because a clue in Black Flag Resynced points to a brand-new German city.
