Assassin's Creed Shadows Delayed Again for March Release

Trouble won't seem to leave Ubisoft easily. Given Ubisoft's previous financial challenges, it's no surprise that Assassin's Creed Shadows will determine the studio's fate. Much has been said about the game's potential success or failure; if the former is true, Ubisoft as we know it will be gone. And while everyone was hoping they'd make a solid comeback with their coming game, just a few weeks before its release, Ubisoft has delayed the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows yet again.

The game was already postponed from November 2024 to February 2025 due to the significant criticism and numerous financial difficulties that Ubisoft encountered last year. Although many of us were already assuming it, March 20, 2025, is the new release date for Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Ubisoft announced the delay in a statement, explaining that AC Shadows needs more time to implement player input from the last three months and set the stage for a successful launch by maintaining strong relationships with the Assassin's Creed community, which has been positively responding to the developer's efforts.

Of course, we are all too familiar with the fact that Ubisoft games don't always release looking their best, which is likely an important factor in the production delays and other issues. We saw it in Star Wars Outlaws, and that was one of the causes for the initial delay. On the other hand, Assassin's Creed Shadows needed to adjust a number of other things—most notably, all the cultural aspects related to Japan that were controversial.

So, here we are, with a delay since the game is most likely not completely polished. On the positive side of things, we are willing to accept delays, but we won't stand for a game that isn't playable. It's okay for publishers to delay games that aren't ready, no matter what. While the February release schedule seemed reasonable at first glance, many are concerned that Ubisoft isn't confident enough to face the same release windows of Avowed, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Monster Hunter Wilds.

Ignoring that, Ubisoft has already stated their confidence that a second delay is unnecessary. That obviously isn't what happened. Upon the announcement of the first delay, Ubisoft said that they were breaking away from their usual season pass approach, ending early access to the game and rewarding pre-order customers with the first expansion for free. Ubisoft even refunded pre-orders for anyone who thought they would get the game in November 2024.

Ubisoft began 2025 with a setback because of their own shortcomings and all the recent events. They just cannot afford to have another disastrous launch, however. For Assassin's Creed Shadows to be a huge success for them; otherwise, things might get from bad to even worse.