Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed after poor Star Wars Outlaws reception

Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the long-anticipated next major release in the popular historical open-world game franchise, has been moved back from its previously announced November 15, 2024, release date.

The new date is February 14, 2025, according to an open letter posted to X by franchise executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté. “We realize we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features,” Côté wrote. “As such, we’ve made the decision to postpone the release date.”

He went on to promise a same-day launch on Steam as well as console platforms for that date.

Côté wrote the note to players, but a letter from publisher Ubisoft to investors went into more detail. “While the game is feature complete, the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release led us to provide additional time to further polish the title,” it says. “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.” (It was previously announced that the game allows players to play as two characters: a samurai warrior and a stealthy assassin.)

The investor note also says that “the game will mark the return of our new releases on Steam Day 1,” so that’s a silver lining for PC players.

A precarious position

The massive-budget Star Wars Outlaws was positioned as an “Assassin’s Creed, but in the Star Wars universe” game and was released on August 30. However, it was met with a mixed reception. Players, reviewers, and streamers praised its meticulous, high-fidelity presentation of Star Wars locales and characters, but they criticized its stealth gameplay as repetitive and frustrating.