A new report has potentially shone a light on just how Ubisoft is planning to use the extra Assassin’s Creed Shadows dev time allotted to them by the game’s recent delay.
As previously reported, on September 25th, series executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté announced that in light of the deluge of criticism being leveled towards both the title’s narrative and mechnical direction, as well as the failure of their recent Star Wars Outlaws, the currently-going-through-it-studio had decided to delay the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows by nearly three months.
“Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a dream project for us; finally bringing the series to Feudal Japan with many features developed with our community in mind, such as parkour or the renewed stealth, brought by new technology, all set in a beautiful and immersive world,” wrote Côté. “This is an ambitious addition to the franchise, a rich experience that can be lived through the eyes of two unique protagonists – but we realize we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features.”
“As such, we’ve made the decision to postpone the release date to February 14th, 2025,” he then revealed. “The game will release on a broad range of platforms, including Steam at launch. Additionally, preorders will be refunded and all future preorders will be granted the first expansion for free. Rest assured we are looking forward to the moment you will embark on a memorable adventure with Naoe and Yasuke. Until then, we thank you for your ongoing support.”
In a separate statement released that same day, Ubisoft leadership further informed investors that “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,” they added. “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.”
In light of this decision, the internet was soon set ablaze with speculation regarding just what improvements Ubisoft could be making to Shadows, with the most popular theory notably being that they would be completely removing Yasuke from the game’s narrative and replacing him with an ethnically Japanese counterpart.
Unfortunately for those who placed their bets on this potential outcome, according to insider sources who spoke to Insider-Gaming‘s Tom Henderson, a change in protagonists is not on their to-do-list (though, admittedly, this prospect did seem a bit ‘pie in the sky’, as removing Yasuke completely would likely require Ubisoft to almost totally restart production on the game from the ground up).
However, while Yasuke may be sticking around, said sources did suggest that Ubisoft was dedicating a portion of their extra dev time to “actively addressing many of the historical and cultural concerns, which started before the game’s reveal following external playtests and were accelerated further following the game’s initial reveal and mass feedback.”
“This includes changing some of Yasuke’s story and how he’s portrayed in the game, fixing architectural details, and ensuring that the game is historically grounded while fitting into the Assassin’s Creed universe,” wrote Henderson.
As to how such stark historical issues made it through Ubisoft’s supposedly “strict asset-approval process”, Henderson’s sources explained to him “that historical experts were brought onto the project much later than usual for a project of this magnitude and that miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines were also at play.”
In addition to these aesthetic and narrative issues, the insiders noted that the game would also be receiving some major polish.
“The game is currently not at the stage it needs to be for release, and I’m told that there have been some tweaks to some gameplay mechanics and elements that are going to take time to incorporate,” relayed the reporter. “While some of these issues were highlighted in recent playtests and mock reviews, these are end-of-development issues that will take a little longer.”
Ultimately, the results of these changes – and whether or not they’ll have any positive effect on the game’s sales prospects – will be confirmed when Assassin’s Creed Shadows officially releases on its new date of February 14th, 2024.