Amid turmoil, Ubisoft pushes back Assassin's Creed Shadows and changes strategy
Lately, many studios, both big and small, have decided to postpone the release of their respective games. At the end of September, it is Ubisoft's turn to make this decision for its highly anticipated Assassin's Creed Shadows. Its two heroes, Yasuke and Naoe, will have to wait a few more months before making their blades speak in Sengoku-period Japan.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is coming on Valentine's Day
So the release of November 15th is out, sinceAssassin's Creed Shadows will finally arrive on February 14, 2025. Let's hope for Ubisoft that this choice will not put its title up against Ghost of Yoteirecently announced for 2025 on PS5. There is, however, other interesting information in Ubisoft's press release. Its stock market value, already significantly weakened since the beginning of the year, has plummeted following this announcement and that of the downward revision of its financial objectives.
There are changes behind this apparently bad news © Ubisoft has bad news for Assassin's Creed fans, but there are some big changes hidden within
To explain this decision, Ubisoft says it learned from the mixed release of Star Wars Outlaws. The latter will also arrive on Steam on November 21, with several updates under its belt to try to seduce players during the holidays. Ubisoft will therefore use these few months of delay to refine the quality ofAssassin's Creed Shadows. But that's not all.
For its survival, Ubisoft changes its strategy
On PC, Assassin's Creed Shadows will end the practice of initially only releasing on the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store. In fact, the game will also be available on Steam from day one. Ubisoft has undoubtedly seen the success of its recent games as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Or Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora when they later arrived on Valve's platform.
Will Assassin's Creed Shadows Heroes Save Ubisoft? © Ubisoft
Assassin's Creed Shadows will also no longer use Ubisoft's “traditional season pass model,” meaning that it will no longer be possible to play it before its official release date. The company has therefore refunded all previous pre-orders, while future pre-orders will grant free access to the first expansion when it is released.
So, let's meet again in early 2025 to see if these changes and the launch ofAssassin's Creed Shadows will allow Ubisoft to get out of the hole from which the firm seems to be struggling to escape.
