Just Last week, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows was being pushed back. Slated to launch on November 15th, the game has been delayed to February 14, 2025.
At the time, Ubisoft issued a fairly lengthy statement, explaining that the delay would allow the team to "further polish the title." The publisher cited their learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release — which was marred by numerous glitches and bugs — as one of the primary factors behind the decision. It has since been revealed that Star Wars Outlaws only sold around one million copies in its first month of release, so Ubisoft is probably hoping to avoid a similar situation.
However, in a new report from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, the gaming insider detailed the drama going on behind the scenes at Ubisoft and even addressed the wild rumors that Yasuke will be removed from the game. Henderson confirms that Yasuke is not going to be removed from the game, though he notes that the developer is "actively addressing many of the historical and cultural concerns." He writes:
This includes changing some of Yasuke’s story and how he’s portrayed in the game, fixing architectural details, and ensuring that the game is historically grounded while fitting into the Assassin’s Creed universe.
Fundamentally, though, these are issues that should have been caught internally before the game’s reveal, especially given Ubisoft’s strict asset-approval process. As for how these issues fell through the cracks, I’m told that historical experts were brought onto the project much later than usual for a project of this magnitude and that miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines were also at play.
Henderson also addressed the need for extra polish and to clean up some of the issues with bugs. He reports that the game "is currently not at the stage it needs to be for release," which is quite concerning for those already apprehensive following Star Wars Outlaws.
As for how much needs to be addressed, he explains that there are some tweaks to gameplay mechanics and other elements, including some issues that were highlighted in recent playtests. Now delays due to bugs are not necessarily new to the game development process, but the surprising part is that apparently the issues were brought to Ubisoft a while ago.
Of course, these are not new issues for the team. Seven developers working on the project said that they have been pushing for a delay for some time, and their situation had even been heard at other studios in the company. Ultimately, though, the delay comes down to a strict development timeline and the need to address issues caused by the set timeline.
As it currently stands, Assassin's Creed Shadows is due to release on February 14, 2025.