Now, only a little more than a month away from that long-awaited release, Ubisoft has announced a further delay for the next Assassin’s Creed title. Ubisoft has faced quite a few challenges when it comes to Shadows, mainly from the community response, as well as struggles with some of their other titles.
Why Another Delay?
According to the Statement Shared on the Assassin’s Creed Socials, the Game Needs a Bit More Time Cooking in the Oven
Assassin’s Creed Shadows now releases March 20, 2025. pic.twitter.com/wTPzY0oiHy — Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) January 9, 2025
Announced on the official Assassin’s Creed social media accounts, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is officially delayed to Mar. 20. Not a huge delay, but disappointing for fans nevertheless. The statement claims that after further feedback, the game needs more time for these changes to be made.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has had a difficult road in terms of backlash from some of the gaming community. The diversity of the game – a Black samurai being one of two playable protagonists – sparking outrage ever since the announcement of the game back in May 2024. It’s caused vitriolic sentiment to be thrown the development team and Ubisoft’s way, who have attempted to diplomatically respond while also maintaining that this is the game they are making.
Now, after a recent report of abuse within Ubisoft’s Indonesian support studio, Brandoville, it’s hard not to correlate the delay with this revelation. This may be a move on Ubisoft’s part to let the flames of these accusations die down enough to maintain sales. However, speculation isn’t entirely needed, as Ubisoft has very transparently stated that this delay is due to “various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.” It’s a lot of words to simply say “we need sales.”
Ubisoft has had a rough time as of late in general, with the announcement that their free-to-play COD competitor, XDefiant, will be shut down in June due to a hemorrhaging player base. Their Sea of Thieves competitor, Skull and Bones, is essentially waiting for them to pull the plug. Assassin’s Creed Shadows has to succeed, otherwise Ubisoft may not be able to bounce back. This delay may help or hurt in that regard, but ultimately only time will tell when March 20 comes around.
