Ubisoft is delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows from its planned November 15th release to February 14th, 2025. After showing off 12 minutes of gameplay in June, it looked like Ubisoft was set to deliver its next Assassin’s Creed installment in the usual holiday period, but now the publisher says it needs more time to get its new parkour and stealth systems ready.
“We realize we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features,” says Marc-Alexis Côté, vice president and executive producer of Assassin’s Creed at Ubisoft.
Ubisoft says, “the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release led us to provide additional time to further polish the title,” and that it’s also changing up its traditional season pass model. “All players will be able to enjoy the game at the same time on February 14th and those who preorder the game will be granted the first expansion for free,” says Ubisoft.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will also be available on Steam on day one, marking a return of Ubisoft’s new releases on Valve’s store as part of what appears to be a push for “greater efficiency.” Ubisoft’s board of directors is also “launching a review aimed at further improving our execution, notably in this player-centric approach, and accelerating our strategic path towards a higher performing model to the benefit of our stakeholders and shareholders.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now debut just days before Obsidian’s next RPG, Avowed, launches on February 18th. Microsoft announced the Avowed delay last month, saying it wanted to “give players’ backlogs some breathing room.”
The delay comes just a day after Sucker Punch debuted a first look at Ghost of Yotei, which is due for release in 2025. Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be set in Japan and is the latest entry in the series to have dual protagonists. Players can pick between the samurai Yasuke and the shinobi assassin Naoe. Shadows is launching on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S on February 14th. Ubisoft also confirmed earlier this year that Shadows is coming coming to macOS in the future as well.
Update, September 25th: Article updated with comments from Ubisoft about a board of directors-led review of the company.
