Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed again to March 20

You never want to see a delay, but it’s understandable when a developer wants to get it right. This looks to be the case for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which unfortunately has seen a second delay from the new February 14th release date to March 20th. The game was originally launching in November before it hit the initial delay, and now it’s moving again. While it stinks for those excited for Shadows, the packed month of February, along with Assassin’s Creed, gets some much needed breathing room.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows now releases March 20, 2025. pic.twitter.com/wTPzY0oiHy

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) January 9, 2025

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.”

Conference call

For more information on this news, Ubisoft will hold a conference call today, Thursday January 9, 2025, at 6:15 p.m. Paris time/5:15 p.m. London time/12:15 p.m. New York time. The conference call will take place in English and can be accessed live and via replay by clicking on the following link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pa8mfr7x

Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more Assassin’s Creed Shadows news and info!

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