Can Ubisoft Escape the Looming Bankruptcy?

We aren't surprised that the Assassin's Creed Shadows release date has been delayed till February 14, 2025, because we recommended this to Ubisoft when we discussed the game in July 2024. Obviously, it's not due to our recommendation that Ubisoft has made this decision, but their current situation with the shareholders and a draft drop in their stock price.

So the good news is that on February 14, with a Steam release thrown in for good measure, Ubisoft wants to roll out a slew of fixes and improvements before launching the game.

We have been constantly publishing about how bad Ubisoft games have been recently, but the delusion of their loyal base has led them to this situation. For instance, when was the last time we played a Ubisoft game that we truly enjoyed, except for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown?

Assassin's Creed Mirage was slightly above average, while The Settlers: New Allies, Skull and Bones, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora were disasters. And not to mention Star Wars Outlaws, which was a huge letdown. If you've played Star Wars Outlaws, you're probably aware it's far from flawless. The game had potential, but it didn't have the polish it needed.

Surprisingly, Ubisoft didn't take gamers' feedback seriously when they previewed Star Wars Outlaws when almost everyone said the game lacked quality. Even then, Ubisoft had anticipated $500 million in revenue during the 2nd quarter of the year; they revised it to $350–$370 million.

With a drop of 150 million, it's safe to say that Star Wars: Outlaws didn't sell as well as had hoped. Even if August sales were close to 800,000 copies, Ubisoft would still be in this situation due to the amount of money they invested in those games that failed badly.

Now that Assassin's Creed Shadows is set to release in February. Ubisoft intends to devote more development time to ensure they do not make the same mistake twice. Ubisoft wants to provide the best possible experience from launch on all platforms and different PC settings, so they are making this decision early on.

They also want to patch the minor issues before the game's release, something they usually do in post-launch upgrades. They plan to use the additional time to add a few high-impact side quests to enhance the gameplay. This could be good because, unlike Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Assassin's Creed Mirage, side quests might focus more on lesser-known mysteries in Shadows.

It'll be hard to find anyone who doesn't love playing Assassin's Creed games, and these games usually get much better when Ubisoft patches them with upgrades. For instance, compared to its launch in November 2020, Assassin's Creed Valhalla was in a much better state when Ubisoft released a patch in January 2021.

This means that Assassin's Creed Shadows will have all of the fixes typically included in post-launch upgrades already included in the launch. Even though Assassin's Creed Shadows has only been delayed for a few months, naturally, we can't expect any significant alteration or perfection of the game. But at least they will try not to make the same mistakes as Star Wars Outlaws. If Ubisoft could turn back the clock, they would have moved Outlaws’ release to November.

With Assassin's Creed Shadows delayed, we should expect extra content for the standard game when it launches. According to Ubisoft, this delay will incur additional development costs of $20 million; nevertheless, this is merely the beginning. One major advantage of this delay is that the game will now debut on Steam on the same day as Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Game Store.

Like other publishers, Ubisoft has finally realized that attempting to entice users to their own launcher is not worthwhile. Instead, they are focusing on increasing the number of players for their games.

The best part of this decision is that Steam will have all of Ubisoft's next major releases available on launch day. Plus, all pre-orders for the game will be refunded. Additionally, Ubisoft has stated that pre-orders for the Collector's Edition would remain valid. However, they will be refunding all other editions. But you can't pre-order the Collector's Edition anymore since the PlayStation Store only has the regular edition of Shadows when you search for it, but the pre-ordering isn't functional.

There will be no more early access or in-game perks, such as the very special mount and armor, and the game will only be available in its full edition starting on Friday, February 14. The Season Pass is also unavailable because the developers are considering revamping it for future games.

Ubisoft is definitely trying to regain gamer's trust. So, everyone who pre-orders Assassin's Creed Shadows before this new release date will receive the first expansion for free. These add-ons often cost about $15 to $20, so if you reorder after getting your money back, you essentially get a much bigger bonus. The original pre-order quest will likely also be available to everyone now.

We're glad that Ubisoft has taken the positive steps and is not trying to get away with cheap marketing tactics, which they could do when their situation is much better. Since a different crew is already hard at work on this DLC, as is typical with games like Assassin's Creed, Shadows' new release date suggests that the first DLC will likely be available shortly after launch.

This is already a good thing, for better or worse, since the value of the game we pre-ordered has increased dramatically. And it's great that everyone who pre-orders will get access to the first expansion, rather than just a selected few who have purchased the season pass.

Surely, Ubisoft will closely monitor the consequences of offering the first expansion as a pre-order incentive. If that boosts pre-orders, it could encourage players to stick around for the first expansion, which they already know. Perhaps at that point, they will also purchase the second DLC.

Ubisoft has so much at stake that bankruptcy will be inevitable if their current situation continues. However, the company has such a rich history and owns so many original IPs that they could still turn things around. It all depends on how they make their next decisions.

This obviously requires changes in leadership and prioritizing what the gamers want, not what they think will be more profitable. We, the gamers, are, after all, the source of their revenue. They might not exist for too long if they continue against our priorities.