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Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a make-or-break situation for Ubisoft, more so than the France-based development studio might realize.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is easily the most important game of 2025, perhaps not so for the players at large, but certainly for the publisher behind it. Ever since the game’s very first announcement trailer was released, AC Shadows has been mired by a constant barrage of controversy.
From the game’s dual protagonists to its incredibly shady pricing structure, AC Shadows has been under fire from fans and journalists alike. The majority of the criticisms levied against the game are valid, particularly the ones towards the game’s pricing structure and “FOMO”-driven practices. The backlash Ubisoft received from fans was so impactful that it ended up in them rethinking their release strategies.
And as we draw close to AC Shadows’ new release date, it has become clear that the game is now a “make-or-break” situation for the studio. Here’s why Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the most important game for Ubisoft in 2025, more so than the publisher might realize.
Note: Aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the author’s opinions.
Brief Look at All the Controversies Surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Controversies and Backlash
Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes at a time when Ubisoft is at its lowest regarding financial gains and reputation among the masses. 2024 was meant to be a big year for Ubisoft with games like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Star Wars Outlaws, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. However, both Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Star Wars Outlaws ended up being a financial loss for the French publisher.
In fact, the major backlash and financial hit the publisher took from Star Wars Outlaws was the instigator that forced them to delay AC Shadows. Up until the second half of 2024, Ubisoft followed a very predatory form of pricing and monetization for their games.
Star Wars Outlaws (and AC Shadows) in particular faced a lot of criticism from fans for its bizarre pricing. The Standard Edition of the game is priced at $70. However, the most “content-rich” version of the title, i.e., the aptly titled “Ultimate Edition,” is priced at a ludicrous $130. Furthermore, Ubisoft also incentivized pre-ordering of these expensive editions by attaching an “early access” label to them.
While early access is somewhat understandable for multiplayer or indie games, there’s no excuse for such FOMO-driven tactics in a single-player title, that too from a Triple-A publisher. Another major reason why AC Shadows was delayed to 2025 is the general lack of technical polish in Ubisoft’s games.
In the case of Star Wars Outlaws, players who pre-ordered the “premium” editions for early access were forced to delete their save files on the official release date. This was due to an update that was released for the game, which wasn’t compatible with older save file versions. Furthermore, Star Wars Outlaws, in general, was riddled with technical issues and bugs.
Yasuke and Cultural Appropriation
According to Ubisoft, the primary motivating factor for delaying AC Shadows was “technical polish.” To be fair, that does track, considering Ubisoft post-2018, has not released a single game that wasn’t riddled with technical issues on launch. Save for the Nintendo exclusive Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, most Ubisoft titles are often released in an incomplete state.
From Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to Star Wars Outlaws, every major Ubisoft open-world title featured some form of technical issue. The games do get better with time, with Ubisoft addressing a good majority of the technical issues. However, they shouldn’t be launched in a broken state to begin with.
Apart from the technical issues, another major reason why many fans speculate behind AC Shadows’ delay is, well, Yasuke. In AC Shadows, players get to take control of two protagonists – Naoe (a female Assassin, who is native to Japan) and Yasuke (a Samurai/Retainer under Oda Nobunaga, who is an African native). Furthermore, Yasuke is the very first protagonist who also (allegedly) is a real-life historical figure. Having dual protagonists isn’t anything new for Assassin’s Creed. 2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and 2018’s Assassin’s Odyssey also featured dual protagonists.
However, in the case of AC Syndicate and Odyssey, or any other Assassin’s Creed title in general, the protagonists have always been native to the game’s setting. In AC Syndicate, both Evie and Jacob Frye were native to England. Whereas, in AC Odyssey, both Alexios and Kassandra were native to Greece. However, in AC Shadows, while Naoe is a Japanese native, Yasuke isn’t. And that sparked a ton of controversy among fans and critics alike. This also ignited rumors of Ubisoft trying to force “cultural appropriation” in their games.
Cancelled Pre-Orders and Delay
Following the massive backlash Ubisoft received over not only Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ reveal but also Star Wars Outlaws’ release, the publisher decided to delay AC Shadows to 2025. Furthermore, pre-orders for the game were also taken down from all storefronts, with Ubisoft issuing refunds to all players who had pre-purchased AC Shadows.
Following the delay’s announcement, Ubisoft also revealed how they’re scrapping the “premium” editions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Additionally, as a token of gratitude and apology, Ubisoft is also offering the first expansion for AC Shadows for free to anyone who pre-orders the game.
AC Shadows’ marketing was nothing short of a massive “multi-million dollar blunder.” The game’s trailers were filled with historical inaccuracies. Furthermore, there’s also the “Limited Edition” statue that Ubisoft revealed ahead of the game’s 2024 release, which sparked major controversy.
Essentially, Ubisoft revealed a statue of Naoe perched up on a one-legged Torii Gate as a limited edition collectible that fans can pre-order. However, the “one-legged Torii Gate” holds major cultural significance. The one-legged Torii Gate is one of the few remnants of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Naturally, the reveal of a statue depicting something of that major cultural importance didn’t go well with Japanese players. Ubisoft eventually had to take down pre-orders for the statue. And soon after, the delay was announced.
Why Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is a Make-or-Break Situation for Ubisoft
Shouldering Responsibilities
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is currently scheduled to be released on February 14, 2025. Furthermore, it’s the very first Ubisoft game since 2018 that’s releasing simultaneously on Steam, alongside other platforms. This alone explains the significance AC Shadows’ release holds for Ubisoft.
Following Star Wars Outlaws’ release, Ubisoft’s stock prices also took a massive hit. Following that, the announcement of AC Shadows also ended up causing a major dent in the publisher’s stock prices. As such, Assassin’s Creed holds a major responsibility of not only being a good Assassin’s Creed title but also being good enough to carry Ubisoft through its financial “crisis.”
AC Shadows is also a breaking point for Ubisoft, one that decides its future as an independent publisher. If the game ends up being a failure, akin to the last few offerings from Ubisoft, the publisher will likely get acquired by Tencent. In fact, following the delay’s announcement, reports of Ubisoft being open to acquisition surfaced online.
A Path To Look Forward To
Ubisoft, much like Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, is notorious for trying to nickel and dime its player base. Despite making primarily single-player games, Ubisoft always finds a way to cram microtransactions into most of its modern releases.
Furthermore, most of Ubisoft’s games look and play nearly identical, with cookie-cutter open worlds and endless filler content. Add to this the fact that most of Ubisoft’s games are usually overpriced; it’s understandable why players might find Ubisoft’s current dour situation to be exciting.
However, I don’t think Ubisoft’s downfall is something to be celebrated. Yes, the publisher has done plenty that’s wrong and downright predatory. However, it is also the same publisher that brought us games like Assassin’s Creed 2, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Far Cry 3, Prince of Persia, and more. For me, Ubisoft used to be the studio that pioneered the games and genres that I mostly enjoyed, back when I started to get into video games. Titles like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Assassin’s Creed, and Splinter Cell: Conviction shaped my childhood. And despite the numerous ways Ubisoft has wronged us fans over the last few years, I still won’t want it to close its doors.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the very first title in the series that I’m not particularly excited about. However, despite that, I still hope the game turns out well. At least well enough to give Ubisoft one last chance to redeem themselves. And so far, from what I’ve seen of AC Shadows, it seems to be shaping up as a pretty good (and polished) Assassin’s Creed experience. Hopefully, Ubisoft can deliver on its promises of a quality AC game come February 14, 2025.
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Thank you for reading the Assassin’s Creed Shadows article. We provide the latest news and create guides for Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, ARK Survival Ascended, and more. Also, watch Deltia play games on Twitch or visit his YouTube channel.
