Assassin's Creed Shadows

[Punisher]

Reveal


Characters

[Smoove_B]

I almost did the same thing - started a new thread, but we have one with the "code name"; it just needs to be updated.

[Punisher]

Dammit.
Thought I beat everyone to the punch for once.
Oh well.

[Rumpy]

Something seems off with the faces for some reason.

[Victoria Raverna]

Surprised that they picked a female character and a non Japanese character as the main characters for an AC in Japan game.

[jztemple2]

From PC Gamer, Assassin's Creed Shadows delayed to 2025

Ubisoft has announced the surprise delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Instead of launching on November 15 as planned, the game is now slated to come out on February 14, 2025.

"Assassin's Creed Shadows will now be released on February 14, 2025," Ubisoft said. "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.

"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 also seems to be stepping back from its commitment to the Epic Games Store, saying Assassin's Creed Shadows will be available on on Steam on launch day.

[YellowKing]

I'm actually OK with this. This fall was already slated to be a packed gaming season between Diablo 4 expansion, New World: Aeternum, Dragon Age, and the Dragon Quest 3 remake. And that's not counting the games I'm currently in the middle of.

[jztemple2]

Assassin’s Creed Shadows early access definitely canceled says new Ubisoft post

If you pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and were expecting to play the game three days before its general release, according to a new post on the RPG series’ official Discord this will no longer be possible. Previously, Ubisoft confirmed that the release date for the new stealth RPG had been delayed and that all pre-orders would be refunded. The Far Cry and Rainbow Six Siege developer also said that all players would be able to access the game at the same time on launch day. However, this new update, from a longstanding Ubisoft community developer, makes it clearer that AC Shadows’ early-access period has been scrapped. It also confirms another previous Ubisoft announcement that the plans to launch a season pass for Assassin’s Creed Shadows have been canceled.

[Isgrimnur]

Assassin's Creed Shadows Collector's Edition Price Drops $50 Amid Cancelled Season Pass and 'Early Access'

The developer confirmed the price drop in a Discord post, telling fans it would now cost $229.99 instead of $279.99 and no longer contain a handful of the bonuses originally announced.
...
The Collector's Edition now includes the game, a statue of dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke, an art book, a life sized replica of Naoe's katana tsuba, a world map, wall scroll, and two lithographs for the $229.99 price tag.

[Scraper]

Something tells me this game will be a buggy mess for the first 6 months.

[jztemple2]

Something tells me this game will be a buggy mess for the first 6 months.

Or maybe that was why it was delayed for several months, slipping into 2025.

[Scraper]

Something tells me this game will be a buggy mess for the first 6 months.

Or maybe that was why it was delayed for several months, slipping into 2025.

That's probably wishful thinking. Why would they cancel the early access and season pass plans if they didnt have other massive issues just getting the game out the door?

[Hrothgar]

I don't have any inside information. All my limited software development experience was far outside of gaming. Still, I've seen Ubisoft games for years. They generally don't have long tales, especially the single player games. They usually are massive projects combining work from teams around the world. They usually release in a buggy but playable state. Clearly, they can't get there for the holiday season (losing all those gift sales). They might not be confident about the new release date. I'd imagine it's all hands on deck, so they can't spare people to design and work on any DLC. There's no point in DLC if the game crashes and burns. Besides if they manage to get it smoothed out, they can always pull a Mirage and build a shorter, stand alone game off the plans for the DLC. People have been asking for this game for years. Now they're competing with the Ghost of Tsushima series. I hope they end up with something worthy.

[jztemple2]

Assassin's Creed Shadows will have a 'Canon Mode' that will make all the correct RPG decisions for you

It's a little embarrassing to admit but I am sometimes paralyzed by choices in RPGs. In fact, I am currently in the midst of a Very Big Situation in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (if you've played it, you'll know what I mean, and if you haven't I'm not going to spoil it), and it is absolutely killing me. Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate the freedom to choose my own destiny, but sometimes it's nice to just lie back and let the currents take you where they may.

People who share that feeling as they're forced to choose this guy over that guy may appreciate a clever new addition Ubisoft has cooked up for Assassin's Creed Shadows called "canon mode," that literally takes the choices out of your hands.

"Choices come more into play when recruiting allies and romance some of the characters," director Jonathan Dumont said during a recent AMA on Reddit. "Since the fan base is divided on branching dialogues, we have incorporated an option called Canon Mode which allows you to play the game with choices already made for you, to give you a choice free experience. Hope this makes it fun for everyone."

[YellowKing]

Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate the freedom to choose my own destiny, but sometimes it's nice to just lie back and let the currents take you where they may.

Wouldn't just arbitrarily making a choice be "letting the currents take you where they may?"

I don't really care if this is a feature or not, and if it helps some people sleep at night more power to them, but I confess I still find the concept puzzling. I mean, if your choices are going to somehow lessen your game experience, or lead to inconsistencies in future sequels, that's a designer problem, not a player problem.

[Isgrimnur]

I hope it ends up being Clue mode with three different "correct" versions.

[jztemple2]

Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate the freedom to choose my own destiny, but sometimes it's nice to just lie back and let the currents take you where they may.

Wouldn't just arbitrarily making a choice be "letting the currents take you where they may?"

I don't really care if this is a feature or not, and if it helps some people sleep at night more power to them, but I confess I still find the concept puzzling. I mean, if your choices are going to somehow lessen your game experience, or lead to inconsistencies in future sequels, that's a designer problem, not a player problem.

I think I can understand this option if it is intended to keep the player on the main storyline. It would be nice if the devs could fully develop and populate every possible branch, but it probably isn't practical. For folks who intend to play the game several times it would be good, but for those of us who probably only do one playthrough, having the choices made so I stay on the main storyline is fine.

[YellowKing]

I'm probably making a bigger deal out of it than it warrants; they probably just threw it in because it was easy enough to program and if it made life easier for the 5% of the player base who can't handle dialogue in a video game, why not. If you're getting severe anxiety over which digital character to romance in a video game, however, I question your ability to function in real life.

[jztemple2]

Game release has been delayed to March 20

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed again, as part of a "strategic update" that will see it "review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders."

"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging day-one experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," Ubisoft said in a statement.

[Scraper]

Game release has been delayed to March 20

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed again, as part of a "strategic update" that will see it "review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders."

"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging day-one experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," Ubisoft said in a statement.

I have a feeling this game is going to be a mess when it's released. Sort of like how Unity was at launch. But I hope I'm wrong. If it is I'll just wait to play it for about a year when the price falls.

[raydude]

Game release has been delayed to March 20

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed again, as part of a "strategic update" that will see it "review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders shareholders."

"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging day-one experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," Ubisoft said in a statement.

FTFY

[Rumpy]

I kind of was expecting another delay at this point, given much of the controversy surrounding it. But the statement about 'transformational strategic and capitalistic options' makes it sound like they want to add loads of microtransanctions or even NFTs. And Ubisoft has been strongly pushing NFTs.

[jztemple2]

Game release has been delayed to March 20

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed again, as part of a "strategic update" that will see it "review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders shareholders."

"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging day-one experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," Ubisoft said in a statement.

FTFY

When I was working in my aerospace job I attended a week long middle management training course. At one point we had a speaker who asked the question, "What is your job goal?". There was the usual responses of launching the Space Shuttle safely, etc. But he said no, our most important job was to make money for the shareholders. And that really is the right answer, much as people might not like it. If you're a big corporation like Ubisoft, if you are in middle or upper management your primary goal is to make money for the shareholders. It is how you achieve that goal that makes it interesting.

[Max Peck]

I kind of was expecting another delay at this point, given much of the controversy surrounding it. But the statement about 'transformational strategic and capitalistic options' makes it sound like they want to add loads of microtransanctions or even NFTs. And Ubisoft has been strongly pushing NFTs.

That was from a press release about corporate strategy that probably refers to seeking investment capital (enter the Tencent rumors). The game delay was announced in the same release, but wasn't directly related to that particular topic.

The complete press release is:

Paris, January 9, 2025 – Following the strategic and execution reviews initiated by the Executive Committee a few months ago, Ubisoft is taking decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation.

Ubisoft announced today that it has appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders. This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes.

Operationally, the Company will continue to drive significant cost reductions, together with a highly selective approach to investments, and now expects to exceed €200 million in reduction of its fixed cost base by FY2025-26 vs. FY2022-23 on an annualized basis. In December, XDefiant was discontinued and three production studios in high-cost geographies were closed.

Additionally, as part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This additional time will allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months and help create the best conditions for launch by continuing to engage closely with the increasingly positive Assassin’s Creed community. The game is now scheduled for March 20.

Q3 FY2024-25 net bookings are now expected at around €300 million primarily reflecting lower than expected Holiday sales, mainly for Star Wars Outlaws, as well as the discontinuation of XDefiant.

Ubisoft still expects approximately break-even non-IFRS operating income and free cash flow for FY2024-25. Net bookings are now expected to come in at around €1.9 billion, and include new partnership opportunities for Ubisoft’s games and franchises as well as for the monetization of the streaming rights acquired last fiscal year.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said “We made good progress on the strategic and execution reviews initiated a few months ago and are confident that this will position Ubisoft for a stronger future. We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation. We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises.

Additionally, we are all behind our teams’ efforts to create the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed opus of the franchise and made the decision to provide an extra month of development to Shadows in order to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months that will enable us to fully deliver on the potential of the game and finish the year on a strong note.”

Basically, they're saying:

1. We need investment capital;
2. We're firing loads of people to cut costs; and
3. Assassin's Creed Shadows is still a bit shite, so we're giving that team one more month to get their act together before we fire them too.

[Rumpy]

Oh ok. I guess it was just a badly worded sentence that made it sound like they were related. Still wouldn't put it past them to try to insert NFTs in the final product though.

[raydude]

Game release has been delayed to March 20

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed again, as part of a "strategic update" that will see it "review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders shareholders."

"As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging day-one experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows," Ubisoft said in a statement.

FTFY

When I was working in my aerospace job I attended a week long middle management training course. At one point we had a speaker who asked the question, "What is your job goal?". There was the usual responses of launching the Space Shuttle safely, etc. But he said no, our most important job was to make money for the shareholders. And that really is the right answer, much as people might not like it. If you're a big corporation like Ubisoft, if you are in middle or upper management your primary goal is to make money for the shareholders. It is how you achieve that goal that makes it interesting.

I'm reminded of John Oliver's excellent rant on Boeing on all things wrong with the mindset that we make money for the shareholders. See also Enshittification.

[naednek]