Assassin’s Creed Shadows 2024 launch cancelled but for a strange reason

Assassin’s Creed Shadows – no longer a 2024 release (Ubisoft)

Ubisoft has announced the new Japanese-themed Assassin’s Creed game will no longer be out this year and has been pushed back until 2025.

There’s been a cloud hanging over Assassin’s Creed Shadows ever since it was announced, with controversy over one of the two main characters being former African slave Yasuke – even though he was a well-known historical figure at the time.

The game was supposed to be out on November 15, but it became clear this week that something was wrong, as it was withdrawn from appearances at the Tokyo Game Show and preview events for Western press were cancelled.

Now it’s clear why that was: the game isn’t coming out this year at all anymore, and has instead been pushed back until February 14, 2025. (The same week as Civilization 7 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, as well as a few days before Avowed, as if Ubisoft couldn’t have found a worse time for it.)

Although the controversy over Yasuke may have played some part in the game’s delay the reason stated by Ubisoft is that after the weak launch of fellow open-world game Star Wars Outlaws, they want to make changes to Shadows in order to make sure it doesn’t suffer the same fate.

Exactly what they’re going to change is unclear as by their own admission the game is already ‘content complete’ (as it would have to be if it was meant to be out in November) but apparently they intend to add further ‘polish’ using ‘learnings’ from Outlaws.

It’s unclear what this means, as Outlaws did not suffer from an excessive number of bugs. However, it was criticised for what some felt were overly difficult stealth sections at the beginning. Since Shadows is no doubt more stealth focused that may be one of the things Ubisoft is planning to change.

They’re obviously not going to take Yasuke out, or anything that radical, so it’s difficult to imagine that they can make enough changes in that time to justify the delay, with previous Assassin’s Creed games always launching during the Christmas gift-buying season.

Ubisoft is planning other changes outside of the game though, as it will launch day one on Steam, instead of just Ubisoft’s own PC store, and it will abandon the series’ usual season pass model and instead give away the first expansion to anyone that pre-orders the game (current pre-orders will be refunded).

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now release February 14, 2025. pic.twitter.com/J2ah7kkytW

— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) September 25, 2024

‘While the game is feature complete, the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release led us to provide additional time to further polish the title,’ said Ubisoft in a financial statement. ‘This will enable the biggest entry in the franchise to fully deliver on its ambition, notably by fulfilling the promise of our dual protagonist adventure, with Naoe and Yasuke bringing two very different gameplay styles.’

A separate statement from the developers is only slightly more explicit, stating that ‘we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features.’

As with their frustratingly vague ‘apology’ about Shadows’ historical accuracy, back in July, Ubisoft skated around the controversy surrounding Yasuke, but Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot did make the following statement:

‘Let me address some of the polarised comments around Ubisoft lately. I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda. We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.’

When discussing Outlaws, the statement added that, ‘initial sales proved softer than expected. In response to player feedback, Ubisoft’s development teams are currently fully mobilised to swiftly implement a series of updates to polish and improve the player experience in order to engage a large audience during the holiday season to position Star Wars Outlaws as a strong long-term performer. The game will be available on Steam on November 21.’

Ubisoft are not having a good year (Ubisoft)

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