Assassin’s Creed 3 microtransactions “a shortcut to unlock game items”

After the appearance of listings for in-game “Erudito Credits” yesterday, Ubisoft have confirmed that there will be microtransactions in Assassin’s Creed 3.
“The Erudito Credits are a new way of unlocking content in Assassin’s Creed 3′s Multiplayer,” Ubisoft told Eurogamer. “People who have little time can use Erudito Credits as a shortcut to unlock game items from level 1 to 50 (excluding Prestige levels and relics rewards). This is not mandatory, all items sold in Erudito Credits are also available in Abstergo Credits and can be unlocked through normal progression like previous years.”
Assassin’s Creed 3 isn’t the first full price game to contain optional microtransactions, boxes can be bought in Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode to unlock new weapons and classes a bit quicker, though it’s a bit of a lottery. It sounds as though this system will be a more straightforward ‘pay for credits buy the item’ deal though it won’t be clear how expensive those upgrades are until the game goes live.
Assassin’s Creed 3 goes on sale today on consoles in the US. It’s out on November 20 in the US and November 23 in the UK on PC. The console launch means there is a new launch trailer, which is different from last week’s launch trailer, in that it’s longer in order to fit in more hitting with axes.