Assassin's Creed Shadows is skulking out of its November 15 release date and moving to February 14, 2025.
Marc-Alexis Côté, the franchise's executive producer, said the game "needs more time to polish and refine the experience, pushing further some of our key features."
"We understand this decision will come as disappointing news," he continued, "but we sincerely believe this is in the best interest of the game, and ultimately your experience as a player."
This marks the first delay for a mainline Assassin's Creed game since Assassin's Creed Unity was moved from October 28, 2014 to November 11. The more recent Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Assassin's Creed Mirage had their respective dates moved up by a week.
Earlier this week, Ubisoft canceled an incoming press event for Assassin's Creed Shadows and a larger studio appearance at Tokyo Game Show due to "various circumstances."
A statement on Ubisoft's website stressed Shadows is "feature complete," but Star Wars Outlaws' mixed reception (and initial, "softer than expected" sales) "led us to provide additional time to further polish the title."
Interestingly, the developer highlighted Shadows' release on a "broad range of platforms, including Steam at launch." Valhalla and Assassin's Creed Odyssey famously came to Valve's platform years after their individual releases.
Meanwhile, Mirage, which debuted in 2023, has still not been released on Steam. Shadows will mark the start of Ubisoft games' day one launch on Steam alongside other platforms.
In light of the delay, Ubisoft is refunding preorders for Shadows, and said new preorders will provide players access to its first post-launch expansion for free.
Ubisoft's statement also said Shadows will move away from Assassin's Creed's standard post-launch season pass model but remained vague beyond the aforementioned free expansion for new preorders.
"Rest assured, we are looking forward to the moment you embark on a memorable adventure with Naoe and Yasuke," concluded Côté.
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