LogInTom Henderson shed some light on the reasons why Ubisoft's upcoming Assassin's Creed game got postponed.
Ubisoft
Last week, Ubisoft caused quite a stir within the gaming community when it announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows, a new installment in the Assassin's Creed series and one of the most divisive AAA titles currently in the market, was getting postponed until February 14, 2025, citing the need to "refine and polish the experience" as the main reason behind the delay
While release dates being pushed back is certainly nothing new these days, the fact that Shadows had already been an incredibly polarizing game even before the delay, coupled with Ubisoft's over-reliance on "corporate speech" in both the official delay announcement and the leaked internal memo, drew attention from gamers worldwide, many of whom were left unconvinced that the need for extra polishing was the sole reason for the postponement.
Attempting to shed some light on the actual reasons for the delay is Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, who recently published an extensive report providing more context on the state of Assassin's Creed: Shadows and why its launch was pushed back to February 2025.
According to Henderson's report, the delay, which many understandably saw as unexpected, was actually anticipated within Ubisoft and deemed necessary by the developers, however, it was only approved when Star Wars Outlaws' disappointing sales numbers, described by Ubisoft's CEO as "softer than expected," became impossible to ignore. Outlaws' underperformance was reportedly one of the main reasons executives approved Shadows' postponement and the primary reason for Ubisoft's decision to start releasing games on Steam again.
Another reason for the delay, which wasn't mentioned in the official announcement, is that the team allegedly needed more time to address "many of the historical and cultural concerns" raised by the gaming community. This includes revising parts of Yasuke's story and his portrayal in the game, correcting architectural details, and "ensuring that the game is historically grounded while fitting into the Assassin's Creed universe."
"Fundamentally, though, these are issues that should have been caught internally before the game's reveal, especially given Ubisoft's strict asset-approval process," reads the report. "As for how these issues fell through the cracks, I'm told that historical experts were brought onto the project much later than usual for a project of this magnitude and that miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines were also at play."
Finally, Henderson emphasized that the officially stated need to refine and polish the game is not fabricated, with developers allegedly mentioning that there are some gameplay mechanics and elements in Shadows that need tweaks and fixes, some of which will take time to incorporate. "While some of these issues were highlighted in recent playtests and mock reviews, these are end-of-development issues that will take a little longer."
The report concludes by noting that while Assassin's Creed: Shadows' pre-order numbers are lower than those of Valhalla, they are still "solid" and can be expected to increase even further once the game finds its way to Steam
Interestingly, this conclusion seems to contradict a recent inside scoop from YouTuber Endymion, who allegedly spoke with several Ubisoft employees and was told that Shadows "has only about 7% the pre-order numbers of Valhalla during the same time period," a figure that can hardly be described as "solid." Endymion's report also aligns with comments made by Side Scrollers Podcast's Craig Skistimas, who in August mentioned that the game's physical pre-orders on PS5 and Xbox were reportedly less than one per store, citing an anonymous insider's findings. Whether Shadows' pre-order numbers are truly solid or only a fraction of Valhalla's remains a matter of debate.
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