Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed by Ubisoft and will no longer be hitting its November release date, the company announced today. Instead, it’ll now be releasing on February 14, 2025, for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms. The delay follows the cancellation of at least one Assassin’s Creed event scheduled to take place during Japan’s Tokyo Game Show event as well as intermittent controversies surrounding the game and the portrayal of Yasuke as one of the two main playable characters.
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The announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ delay was shared in Ubisoft’s latest financial call which was made public this week. Following that news, a post was shared on socials, too, to confirm the delay.
Assassin’s Creed games have been delayed in the past, but it’s less common to see a year go by without a major Assassin’s Creed release, so Assassin’s Creed Shadows being pushed out of 2024 makes for an atypical year for Ubisoft.
Assassin’s Creed fans have long been asking for the franchise to head to Japan with the successes of games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Ghost of Tsushima only encouraging those requests, but since Assassin’s Creed Shadows was revealed, Ubisoft has been grappling with pushback. While some naysayers seemed like they just didn’t want to play as a female shinobi character named Naoe or Yasuke, the African samurai talked about in historic records, some (especially in the Japanese community) were frustrated that Ubisoft had one shot at a Japanese Assassin’s Creed game and abstained from choosing an Asian male as a protagonist be it an original or historical character.
Fast-forward through those complaints to September when Tokyo Game Show was upon us, and it didn’t go unnoticed that Ubisoft decided to cancel its Assassin’s Creed Shadows showcase planned for the event. Some viewed this as Ubisoft withdrawing from the event out of fear of more backlash when showing off Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but in light of the recent news, it seems the delay was obviously a factor as well.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now release for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms on February 14th.
