Ghost Recon Breakpoint went live yesterday, although players have already had their hands on the game beforehand as part of the early access perk that came with the higher tier bundles of the game. It was noted though that the game seemed to come with an awful lot of micro-transactions at launch.

Most of the micro-transactions were cosmetics, but there were also bundles that let you acquire more skill points, crafting materials or weapon upgrades, should you not want to obtain them through in-game methods.

Despite being a regular feature of the series, various players were not happy to see so many gameplay affecting micro-transactions be available, suggesting they have no place in a AAA game, especially at such a high price tag. 

Ubisoft have now relented as a result, removing the various micro-transactions from the game and releasing the following statement;

From the beginning, two key factors stood out as extremely important for the team: That Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint doesn’t include any pay-to-win elements, to make sure that players not choosing to engage with in-game purchases do not see their experience affected. Players will be able to unlock skills and get access to plenty of varied loot and items by simply playing the game

The company went on to explain that the various "time saver" items, such as the weapon or skill point bundles, were not supposd to be in the store, at least not at launch;

These items were designed as an optional way for players arriving later to the game (Post-Launch) to catch up with those who have been playing for longer and enjoy our co-op and challenging end-game experiences. These Time-Savers have since been removed from our Store for now. Time Savers were not designed to grant any advantage over players choosing not to use them. Additionally, Ghost War PvP has been carefully balanced to ensure that no matter your experience as a player, no one has a critical advantage based on their progression.

So while it seems that they'll  be back further down the road, their inclusion at launch was likely a mistake - either that, or their removal is simply to try and stem the current community backlash.

There's been no indication as to when these features are likely to return, though, but the company did state that they'll be "monitoring the game's economy" carefully going forward.

Stay tuned to GameFront for more on this as we learn it.