Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed following ‘soft’ reception to Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft says

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed to 2025, Ubisoft announced Wednesday ahead of an update on its financial targets. Ubisoft said the game is “feature complete,” but that the company considered the “softer than expected” reception of Star Wars Outlaws in deciding to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows was set to be previewed by media soon, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said on a conference call, but the company wants to make sure the game meets ambitions. (Those previews have since been canceled.) The “learnings” from Star Wars Outlaws “led [Ubisoft] to provide additional time to further polish the title,” it said in a news release. Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now be released on Feb. 14 on all platforms, including Steam. (Star Wars Outlaws has yet to be released on Steam, but is scheduled for Nov. 21.)

“This will enable the biggest entry in the franchise to fully deliver on its ambition, notably by fulfilling the promise of our dual protagonist adventure, with Naoe and Yasuke bringing two very different gameplay styles,” Ubisoft said in a news release.

Both Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws have been targeted in culture war discourse over character designs: Star Wars Outlaws for Kay Vess’ appearance, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows for “concerns” over historical accuracy with its Black samurai Yasuke. Guillemot alluded to this as “polarized comments,” noting that Ubisoft’s goal is “not to push any specific agenda.” On the conference call, Guillemont said a “problem of perception […] has been affecting the company’s performance.”

His full statement, via the news release, is as follows:

Finally, let me address some of the polarized comments around Ubisoft lately. I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda. We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.

In July, Star Wars Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty told The Washington Post that this discourse is “not worth engaging with.” He continued: “If you engage with bad-faith people, there’s no nuance and no possibility of real dialogue. So all we can do is make the best game possible.”