Assassin's Creed Shadow's latest delay may be a necessary evil

Summary

Ubisoft delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows twice to improve gameplay based on player feedback.
February 2025 has a number of big game releases stacked up, so March 20th is a better release date for AC Shadows.
Postponing it to March moves the game away from tough competition and increases its chances of success.

It's not uncommon these days for AAA games to be delayed, especially for highly controversial titles such as Assassin's Creed Shadows. However, Assassin's Creed Shadows is a slightly different story than most, as it faced almost insurmountable odds against criticism, despite otherwise simply being the setting and gameplay of many Assassin's Creed fans have been dreaming for some time. Based on this criticism, Assassin's Creed Shadows it was already delayed once, the release date moved from November 15, 2024 to February 14, 2025, and now it's been delayed again, with a new release date of March 20, 2025.

According to Ubisoft, the reason for this delay is so that the studio can focus more on fine-tuning Assassin's Creed Shadows' gameplay by continuing to incorporate player feedback. While this may work in favor of the game's quality in the long run, it's still a bit of a letdown for those who have been waiting a long time for its release. Assassin's Creed ShadowsQuality isn't the only thing the latest delay could benefit from, as its new release date could help it avoid a launch window made famous by an unprecedented number of big titles all released in the same month this year.

Assassin's Creed Shadows' new parkour mechanics are a natural evolution of its premise

Assassin's Creed Shadows introduces a number of new parkour features and they all go hand in hand with the overarching principle of the game.

The latest Assassin's Creed Shadows delay could work in its favor

February 2025 is full of big titles

It's now fairly common knowledge in the gaming space that February 2025 is shaping up to be one of the biggest launch windows in video game history, which was even more true in the past. Assassin's Creed Shadows' addition to the assembly after the first delay. While 2023 was one of gaming's biggest years, it's been a long time since a single month was so packed with highly anticipated titles, and most of them AAA.

The biggest titles launched in February 2025 are as follows:

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (February 4)
Civilization 7 (February 11)
Date everything! (February 14)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 (February 14)
Open (February 18)
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (February 21)
Monster Hunter Wilds (February 28)

While each of these games appeals to vastly different audiences, for the most part this also means that the biggest game releases in February 2025 span a wide range of genres, from open-world RPGs to RTSs to action-adventures. When all is said and done, it was Assassin's Creed Shadows is still slated for a February 14th launch, it could find itself completely outmatched, especially in light of the controversy it's been mired in ahead of its release.

The latest Assassin's Creed Shadows delay is pulling away from the competition

Delaying a game once or even twice to ensure its quality is one thing, and it's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why a studio might choose to do so. However, Assassin's Creed Shadows“The latest delay pretty much kills two birds with one stone, not only giving Ubisoft more time to focus on implementing player feedback and improving its gameplay, but it also effectively distances it from many of the biggest releases of 2025. More than a dozen games are coming out in March, but none of them does not pose such a threat Assassin's Creed Shadows like those launched in February. As such upcoming Assassin's Creed The game's new release date of March 20 may be a necessary evil.

Of course, there are no guarantees Assassin's Creed Shadows won't be delayed again in light of Ubisoft's renewed focus on game quality and day-one experiences. It's clear that Ubisoft is doing everything they can to encourage a more positive reception Assassin's Creed Shadows than the developer's latest games could achieve. For now, fans will have to wait until the third week of March to find out, and hopefully they won't have to wait much longer.