Assassin’s Creed Shadows staff reportedly pushed Ubisoft to delay the game by several months

Ubisoft employees asked their bosses for several months to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a new report says, as the need for more time became clear.

“While the announcement was somewhat of a shock publicly, internally it was expected and much needed.” Indoor games He writes, based on the accounts of seven developers working on the project.

The report notes the need to give Shadows developers additional development time to address bugs and better integrate recent “tweaks” into gameplay mechanics based on playtests and mock reviews (a standard practice where external consultants scale up projects before handing over versions to dubs).

Of particular note here is that Ubisoft is taking the time to address historical and cultural concerns that have remained since before the game was publicly revealed and have been accelerated since. This includes “changing some of Yasuke’s story and how he is depicted,” as well as what appear to be minor design decisions.

Ubisoft did not respond to Eurogamer’s request for comment on the report today. Previously, the publisher apologized to Japanese fans for elements that “caused concern” and said that Shadows would continue to “evolve” during development.

Speaking previously to Eurogamer, Assassin’s Creed Shadows art director Thierry Dansereau defended the game’s creative choices. “It’s a video game at the end of the day, so we want to provide the best possible experience for our players,” he said.

Ubisoft eventually agreed to delay Shadows last month after seeing “lower-than-expected” sales for Star Wars Outlaws, which has now reportedly passed the 1 million sales mark following its August 30 launch. (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla had 1.8 million players in one week in November 2020.)

The publisher has also embarked on an effort to improve Shadows – which currently has an average user score on Metacritic and which failed to impress in Eurogamer’s Star Wars Outlaws review – before it reaches a wider audience on Steam.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now arrive on PC (including Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on February 14, 2025.