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We’re not exaggerating when we write that the success or failure of Samurai Assassin’s Creed Shadows will determine what happens to Ubisoft itself. The game’s release is thus delayed for another couple of weeks, according to Ubisoft’s press release. The company has had two bad moments in the past year in its list of the biggest screw-ups of 2024 – Star Wars Outlaws included. It talks about selling all or part of the company and whether the Guillemot family, who founded the company in the 1980s, will remain at the forefront.
Japan Troubles of Ubisoft
They are to be saved by Assassin’s Creed Shadows, set in feudal Japan. The Assassin’s Creed brand has been a reliable money-maker in recent years, with Viking Valhalla (2020), for example, grossing more than $1 billion. It’s just that the announcement of Shadows wasn’t received with enthusiasm by some gamers. Many are shaking their heads as to why the main character is a black samurai named Yasuke who massacres Japanese people to the sound of hip-hop music. Then, however, the Japanese themselves joined in, who also did not receive the game warmly at all. They noticed serious errors in the architecture, coats of arms or etiquette, and Ubisoft even apologized to the Japanese players. Although Yasuke did exist, the story about him being a samurai is made up.
Bugs Prevented Earlier Release
Ubisoft is betting everything it has on this one card and is clearly trying to salvage it. For example, it dropped the seasson pass and the game will also head to Steam on release day. Furthermore, management has decided to postpone it from November to February. According to internal information, the game was quite buggy and there were also going to be some adjustments to passages that players would perceive as problematic. However, the developers need even more time, so the release has been pushed back again, this time to March 20. “We’ve been happily sharing our progress through Gameplay Overviews videos since November, and the overwhelming enthusiasm has really inspired us. Each week has brought valuable feedback from our community. While we have already made remarkable progress, we believe we need a few more weeks to implement this feedback and deliver an even more ambitious and engaging experience on release day,” says Ubisoft.
Shadows in March
It’s clear that with some gamers, Ubisoft has already missed its chance and won’t buy the game even if it turns out to be one of its best titles. That’s just the way it is. Maybe Ubisoft doesn’t want Shadows to come out in the same month as Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which is garnering very positive reviews ahead of its release. On the other hand, a solid indicator of success is the number of pre-orders, and those are very respectable, according to various sources. In fact, those who pre-order the game not only get the bonus quest for free, but also the first planned, roughly ten-hour expansion Claws of Awaji. Whatever the outcome, Shadows in March will certainly be a better game than the one in November.
