Ubisoft reveals the surprise free Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC, which just coincidentally happens to be set in a region the Saudi government wants to turn into an 'economic powerhouse'

The surprise Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC announced by Ubisoft in August will go live on November 18, adding a new main quest, sidequests, assassination targets, and other new content in the ancient valley of AlUla, a place Ubi calls "charged with history and home to stunning and diverse landscapes."

Assassin's Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory will add an additional six hours of gameplay, Ubisoft said, that takes place ahead of the finale of the core game when Basim discovers that his long-lost father might still be alive in AlUla. Off he goes to the (potential) rescue, as one does, "only to discover that the valley of AlUla is threatened by a dangerous band of robbers and his father is missing."

"You will have the chance to explore a variety of points of interest in the region, from the old town of AlUla and the Musa Ibn Musayr fortress to the Valley of the Stones and the impressive necropolis of Hegra," Ubisoft said. "Be careful as you explore the sites, as the Robbers have set up ambushes across the desert to catch unwelcome visitors."

You may recall this DLC as the one reportedly being funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is presumably what enables such a big, beefy DLC to be released for free two years after the game's debut. That didn't sit well with at least some Ubisoft employees because of the country's well-documented record of human rights abuses, in particular the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, widely believed to have been carried out on the orders of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Ubisoft declined to comment at the time on whether the PIF—which is headed by bin Salman—fully funded development of the DLC, but we got a closer look at possible connections in today's reveal stream. Among the featured speakers is Dr. Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, the VP of culture at the Royal Commission for AlUla in the real world.

In a message posted to LinkedIn last week, Alsuhaibani said he recently participated in a panel called "Capitalizing on Heritage—Turning Cultural Icons into Economic Powerhouses" at Saudi Arabia's first Cultural Investment Conference, which focused largely on the country's plans for AlUla, where the new Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC takes place.

"My message was clear: heritage is a living asset, not just a preserved past, but a driver of economic, social and cultural value," Alsuhaibani wrote. "AlUla is demonstrating this in practice. From the regeneration of Old Town to adaptive reuse projects like Chedi Hegra, we are showing how heritage can stimulate the creative economy, attract global visitors, foster cultural dialogue and enable meaningful livelihoods.

Alsuhaibani said a new agreement with the country's Ministry of Culture was announced at the conference, which "will grow AlUla’s creative economy by positioning AlUla as a global film hub, supporting cultural entrepreneurs and SMEs with enabling solutions and expanding pathways for the skilled artisans of Madrasat Addeera," the first school for girls in AlUla.

Using popular media to export cultural hegemony is nothing new: The Americans have been doing it for generations, so as far as that goes I really can't hold it against the Saudis. But Alsuhaibani's message does point pretty clearly to bin Salman's participation in the project. The "principal partner" of the Cultural Investment Conference is Saudi Arabia's Cultural Development Fund, part of the country's National Development Fund—which, you probably guessed, is chaired by bin Salman.

For my money, that's what makes this DLC interesting. Saudi Arabia is a common target for complaints of "sportswashing"—using the popularity of videogames to cover up or distract from allegations of human rights abuses, just as it has with professional sports leagues and fading comedians—and it hasn't denied them. In fact, bin Salman said in 2023 that "if sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by way of one percent, then I will continue doing sportswashing. I don't care."

But that sort of thing has been fairly overt in the past, as seen in the PIF's multitude of investments in or acquisitions of major game studios, most recently and famously the $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts. The Valley of Memory DLC is far more subtle, developed and released entirely by Ubisoft, with no officially confirmed connections to any Saudi government agency—just a real solid for Assassin's Creed fans that happens to be about that place Saudi Arabia wants to turn into the next big money thing, right? That doesn't necessarily make it sinister, but I suspect we're going to start asking "why does this exist?" with increasing regularity as gameswashing becomes a more common source of funding.