In adding to the controversial franchise entry’s already beleaguered development, Ubisoft has announced that they will once again be delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows, this time by a span of one month in order to allow the developer more time to implement fan feedback.
This update regarding Yasuke and Naoe’s wild ride was announced to the public on January 9th courtesy of a tweet shared by franchise lead Marc-Alexis Coté via the official Assassin’s Creed Twitter account.
“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our incredible fans and dedicated teams for your unwavering support since our announcement in September to further refine and polish Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” he began, making reference to the game’s previous six month delay. “Since November, we’ve been thrilled to share our progress through Gameplay Overviews, and the overwhelming excitement has truly inspired us. Each week has brought valuable feedback from our community. While we’ve already made remarkable strides, we believe a few additional weeks are needed to implement that feedback and ensure an even more ambitious and engaging day-one experience.”
To this end, Coté then revealed that “accordingly, the new release date is March 20, 2025.”
“We remain committed to delivering a high-quality, immersive experience – fostered by ongoing dialogue between our players and development teams,” he concluded. “We know you’re eager to learn more about Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and we’re excited to share that more updates will be coming your way very soon!”
Interestingly, this was not the only communication Ubisoft gave in regards to Shadows‘ delay.
In a press release to investors, the French developer revealed that “following the strategic and execution reviews initiated by the Executive Committee a few months ago, Ubisoft is taking decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation,” and as such had “appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.”
“As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” their statement added. “This additional time will allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months and help create the best conditions for launch by continuing to engage closely with the increasingly positive Assassin’s Creed community. The game is now scheduled for March 20″.
Offering a statement on these two developments, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot informed investors, “We made good progress on the strategic and execution reviews initiated a few months ago and are confident that this will position Ubisoft for a stronger future.”
“We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation,” he said. “We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises.”
Turning to his company’s upcoming game, Guillemort asserted, “Additionally, we are all behind our teams’ efforts to create the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed opus of the franchise and made the decision to provide an extra month of development to Shadows in order to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months that will enable us to fully deliver on the potential of the game and finish the year on a strong note.”
As noted above, this is but the second time Ubisoft has pushed back Shadows in order to allow them more time to work on its contents.
In September 2024, the studio announced that “we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features”, and as such would be moving Shadows from its original September 25th, 2024 date to February 14th, 2025.
And now, with this latest delay, the game will release a little over a month later on March 20th.