Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that the company is spending an additional €20 million on Assassin’s Creed Shadows by delaying the game to February.

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

Ubisoft announced back in September that it would be delaying the game to February 14th. It wrote in a press release, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now be released on 14 February 2025.”

As for why the company explained, “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.”

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

Furthermore, the company revealed, “We are departing from the traditional Season Pass model. All players will be able to enjoy the game at the same time on February 14 and those who preorder the game will be granted the first expansion for free.”

The company concluded, “The game will mark the return of our new releases on Steam Day 1.”

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

n an official post to the company’s X account, Ubisoft’s Marc-Alexis Côté elaborated, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a dream project for us; finally bringing the series to Feudal Japan with many features developed with our community in mind, such as parkour or renewed stealth, brought by new technology, all set in a beautiful and immersive world. This is an ambitious addition to the franchise, a rich experience that can be lived through the eyes of two unique protagonists – but we realize we need more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features.”

“As such, we’ve made the decision to postpone the release date to February 14, 2025. The game will release on a broad range of platforms, including Steam at launch. Additionally, preorders will be refunded and all future preorders will be granted the first expansion for free,” he continued.

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

Côté added, “We understand this decision will coms as disappointing news, especially to those who’ve been waiting patiently for an Assassin’s Creed game inspired by Feudal Japan, but we sincerely believe this is in the best interest of the game, and ultimately your experience as a player.”

“Rest assured we are looking forward to the moment you will embark on a memorable adventure with Naoe and Yasuke. Until then, we thank you for your ongoing support,” he concluded.

Assassin’s Creed on X

Now, during the company’s First-Half 2024-25 Earnings Figures Conference Call, Guillemot was asked by a BMO investor, “On [Assassin’s Creed] Shadows, you guys said you delayed the game, you keep saying it was feature ready, so I am curious when you went through and looked back at the game were you guys finding bugs? Looking back were you glad you moved it? And I think you talked about an extra €20 million in development costs from doing this, how is that tracking?”

Guillemot responded, “On [Assassin’s Creed] Shadows what we had said was that on the back of what we saw with Outlaws we need to really make sure that we come with an impeccable player experience. Of course, there are always some bugs, but we’ve been focusing and continue focusing on making sure that the day one experience will be well optimized.”

Next, he confirmed, “And, yes, you are right we had mentioned that would translate into about €20 million in the total budget as we’ve kept a strong level of resources on this last phase of development and polishing.”

Guillemot’s confirmation that delaying the game to February would cost an extra €20 million appears to lend credence that the company is not just doing bug fixing and polishing, but could be making significant changes to the characters and the game’s story.

Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming claimed that the polishing of the game “includes changing some of Yasuke’s story and how he’s portrayed in the game, fixing architectural details, and ensuring that the game is historically grounded while fitting into the Assassin’s Creed universe.”

Henderson also added that “The game is currently not at the stage it needs to be for release, and I’m told that there have been some tweaks to some gameplay mechanics and elements that are going to take time to incorporate.”

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

Not only did he reveal these changes, but he also shared that Ubisoft was not as dedicated to historical accuracy as multiple developers have claimed.

Henderson shared “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” resulted in “many of the historical and cultural concerns” that have been raised by gamers.

He also indicated that Ubisoft management has ignored their own developers who have been calling for a delay. He stated, “Seven developers working on the project said that they have been pushing for a delay for some time, and their situation had even been heard at other studios in the company.”

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

YouTuber Endymion also indicated Ubisoft is planning to make changes to Yasuke. He shared, “One of the things for sure getting removed from Shadows, according to my sources, is indeed the rap, hip-hop music for Yasuke. Apparently Ubisoft brought out a questionnaire and they were unanimously told that the rap music was tonally wrong and completely unneeded. And that it was actually offensive that Ubisoft believed Yasuke needed a hip-hop battle theme in a game that was set well before such music existed and it was only implemented ’cause Yasuke was black.”

“So that’s going to be gone for sure,” he declared.

They are also going to be removing dialogue from the game that according to my source told me that it would actually enrage players it they heard it,” he added. “I wasn’t given concrete examples of what kind of dialogue but the source assumed it may have been Yasuke saying some sort of sociopolitical pandering nonsense about he was sold by white men or something and that he hates white men and white supremacy must be abolished and such.”

“They’re also removing this because, of course, if that were in the game it would absolutely be highlighted and used to detract even more people from supporting the game in the future,” Endymion shared.

A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

What do you make of Guillemot confirming that delaying the game adds an additional €20 million to the budget of Assassin’s Creed Shadows?