Ubisoft Delays Assassin's Creed Shadows to February 2025 After Cancelling Tokyo Game Show Appearance and Press Previews

[JWNoctis]

Yes, naval fights were quite interesting. But was it an AC game? I don't know...

A love child between AC and genre classics like Sid Meier's Pirates!, somehow more arcadeish, yet still fun, unlike other later attempts. Much of the plot and gameplay still happened on dry land and in AC style, too.

Considering the paucity of good, modern, games in the latter genre, there really could be another one.

Nah, only a few vocal and narcissistic people think games or other media should represent them, and when games are made to represent those few people they exclude the majority of gamers.

To be fair, people come in all kinds, and it only becomes a problem when people in creative control start to mistake (what is in the end still) tokenism and genericity for progress, to net detriment.

 

[RogueSix]

AC1 is in restrospect one of the worst games of the series because it had the clunkiest combat system (that completely changes in the endfight for no reason and without warning, still mad about that years later) and gameplay and environment variety. You have to understand that at the time no game came close the the level of freedom in movement and that was already enough appeal to most gamers. AC2 was where the Series really took of with a more detailed and believeable world, Interesting characters and cineastic scenering instead of the mass off lazy cutscnes we have today. This went on and peaked with Unity. There haven quite some great AC games but there is simply a limit to how much you can do with a franchise that has to have a mass appeal.

^ this

I was slightly late to the party and played all of the AssCreeds back to back for the first time when Black Flag was available. The first one and AC3 stood out like a sore thumb while AC2 (Leonarrrrrrdo) and AC4 were -by far- the best entries in the series imo.

Bro'hood and Revelations were OK-ish but nothing special. Rogue was mostly forgettable after Black Flag. Unity (fully patched on a modern PC) and Syndicate are actually pretty great.

But AC1 was definitely -again, by far- the weakest one for me. AC3's saving grace was the conclusion of the Desmond Miles story arc which had its moments. I also liked the humor brought to the game by Shaun Hastings in AC3. However, AC1 and AC3 are both definitely at the very tail end if I had to come up with a ranking of my fav AssCreed games.

With regard to the topic at hand here: I think it is incredibly stupid to include the Yasuke character in a Japanese feudal setting. Japanese males are certainly not over-represented in western games so why not just go with a historically correct "normal" male Japanese Samurai warrior? They obviously went with Yasuke for maximum over-the-top diversity and that is just exaggerated and dumb.
I hope, if they ever make an African AssCreed, that they will at least be consistent then and add a second "white" (can also be Asian, Hispanic, whatever, ofc) main character in addition to a black female as well.

 

[AGlezB]

If you want a Japanese Ass Creed, just play Ghost of Tsushima. They also announced a sequel, Ghost of Yotei, coming 2025.

I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima for the first time and I was wondering how bad Sucker Punch had screwed Ubisoft's plans because I'm sure they were saving "medieval japan" for a rainy day.

Now I know. Kudos to Ubisoft for cancelling the project. EDIT: Sorry. I misread it.

 

[nomdeplume]

I thought it a curious choice Intel was doing an ACS promo. Even curiouser yet is the state of practically confirmed AC: Black Flag remaster.

 

[Fokker]

I'm all for Ubisoft crashing and burning. They're literally the dog in the burning room meme.

 

[Darc Requiem]

Its the opposite now. The games are shallow, made to appeal to everyone and dont exclude anyone.

Something made for everyone is ultimately made for no one. You get a product that utterly mundane. A generic experience that doesn't grab the audience.

 

[kapone32]

Of course reception is lukewarm at best. It's the same darn game over and over again! Total yawnfest.

This is what happens when game studios look at market analysis to determine their next course of action instead of simply asking themselves the question "what kind of game would I enjoy playing".

As for the message, there's a glaring contradiction right on page 2:
View attachment 364727
So is it a respectful, factual representation or not?

Exactly do you think BG3 would have been as successful if they had made it a ARPG? The issue with legacy franchises is there is too much variation in the space and people are into more fantastical Action Games/ Monster Hunter Wild is the top selling Game on Steam Global sales.

 

[GhostRyder]

To me, its not so much the claim of historical accuracy that they are backtracking that is so much of a problem. My major issue is that they decided in a game, based in Japan, based on the samurai period, to not use a true Japanese person as the protagonist (Yes I am aware there are two protagonists). Whether or not they want to talk about it, Assassins creed games always use protagonists that fit the period and the location they are representing. I can't think of one other than this that has a character that does not fit the period this bad. It would be one thing if they had done a full fledged Assassins Creed game in Japan before and they are doing this or that this was DLC, but for the first one to disrespect Japan by not using two Japanese protagonists is ridiculous.

The best AC ever made I think was the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The naval fights and water simulations were the best ever until then. It was a total refresh over the existing AC games, that's why it was so good.
Would definitely love another one like that, instead of the current woke garbage, which the Japanese do not want anything to do with it.

By far still my favorite to this day. I am still amazed that they could not just take that system an release a standalone pirate game. No I do not count that game they just released as its just a poor mans version of black flag.

 

[NoneRain]

This launch will make Ubi think about what the f## they are doing....

 

[ZoneDymo]

ubisoft is a sinking ship for a while now

 

[Yraggul666]

Of course they cancel previews and will not attend the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, they don't have enough destroyed torii gate toys, those will sell like hotcakes in Tokyo, to say nothing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Just as @nguyen said, i hope they run out of Blackrock money and go back to making good games, with well written characters and stories.
I played AC1 at launch and was in love with the story and the mystery of it all.
Loved AC2, Brotherhood and Unity(didn't like the bugs in Unity at launch).
Liked Rogue and Syndicate.
AC: Origins and Odyssey helped me when i quit CSGO.
Hated AC3 and whatever pirate game black flag was.

 

[the54thvoid]

Folks - please leave the pseudo-toxic (or just plain toxic) behaviour at home.

It's fine to say you don't think it was great for Ubi to use a protagonist other than a Japanese Samurai in a Samurai era setting. That's a valid perception. But a few of the comments (removed now) have been plain racist shite.

Also - of note - Assassin's Creed games have never really been about historical accuracy - it's a sci-fi game (the animus - remember that concept?).

As for Samurai - here's a cultured take on it:

6 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About Samurai - Japan Daily

Steeped in a long history and plenty of mystery, the Samurai 侍 have been a cornerstone of Japanese mythology since 794 AD (Heian Period). Having fought

japandaily.jp

 

[AusWolf]

To me, its not so much the claim of historical accuracy that they are backtracking that is so much of a problem. My major issue is that they decided in a game, based in Japan, based on the samurai period, to not use a true Japanese person as the protagonist (Yes I am aware there are two protagonists). Whether or not they want to talk about it, Assassins creed games always use protagonists that fit the period and the location they are representing. I can't think of one other than this that has a character that does not fit the period this bad. It would be one thing if they had done a full fledged Assassins Creed game in Japan before and they are doing this or that this was DLC, but for the first one to disrespect Japan by not using two Japanese protagonists is ridiculous.

Don't worry, it'll fail. I don't think the Japanese audience cares much about DEI, especially in a game that's supposed to be in a historical setting.

My main problem is that it's the same darn game for the millionth time over and over again.

By far still my favorite to this day. I am still amazed that they could not just take that system an release a standalone pirate game. No I do not count that game they just released as its just a poor mans version of black flag.

I thought they did. Isn't it called Skull and Bones or something similar? I can't remember, it was not a widely popular game.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Run around swinging weapons. Hack and slash from point to point. Cut scene. Cut scene. Run around. Rinse Repeat. Profit!

 

[64K]

Well, I guess there is a glimmer of hope for Ubisoft. They are crawling back to Steam. They announced that this game will be released on Steam on Feb 14th. They also said that they will be returning to day one releases on Steam in their future titles.

Ubisoft comes crawlin' back to Steam

After years of running exclusively with Epic, Ubisoft has had enough.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[AusWolf]

Well, I guess there is a glimmer of hope for Ubisoft. They are crawling back to Steam. They announced that this game will be released on Steam on Feb 14th. They also said that they will be returning to day one releases on Steam in their future titles.

Ubisoft comes crawlin' back to Steam

After years of running exclusively with Epic, Ubisoft has had enough.

www.pcgamer.com

It won't save this game from failure, imo. There's other things besides the much hated Ubi launcher that put people off from buying.

Edit: The fact that they had to write an apology letter (that they still managed to fuck up) months before release date is a supermassive bad omen on its own.

 

[Crackong]

That's a long paragraph to say ' Ah we screwed up please forgive us '

 

[AusWolf]

That's a long paragraph to say ' Ah we screwed up please forgive us '

"... And please buy our game anyway, regardless of how bad it is, or how much it is against your liking."

 

[64K]

It won't save this game from failure, imo. There's other things besides the much hated Ubi launcher that put people off from buying.

No it won't but at least it's one less stupid thing that they have been doing for years. The pile of stupid is still pretty big though.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Ubi is really desperate for this game to sell well, pulling out all the stops.

 

[watzupken]

Of course reception is lukewarm at best. It's the same darn game over and over again! Total yawnfest.

This is what happens when game studios look at market analysis to determine their next course of action instead of simply asking themselves the question "what kind of game would I enjoy playing".

As for the message, there's a glaring contradiction right on page 2:
View attachment 364727
So is it a respectful, factual representation or not?

What they wrote here, is mostly contrary to what we see in the game. Factual representation of a samurai that is not a Japanese? Which consultant, historian and researcher told them that this is factual? I think it is more their fantasy or warped ideology that got them to this state. I feel from this point on, this game is probably as good as dead. As someone mentioned above, if you like similar game and settings, the Ghost of Tsushima is a better game that is way more factual, than the made up facts in Assassin Creed Shadows.

Ubi is really desperate for this game to sell well, pulling out all the stops.

I feel the damage is done and looking at the recent Starwars Outlaw, I don't have high hopes for this. The game quality have degraded over the years.

 

[GhostRyder]

I thought they did. Isn't it called Skull and Bones or something similar? I can't remember, it was not a widely popular game.

I was being sarcastic, its similar but they cut so much stuff it's just a joke. Plus, they took way too long to make it. I literally would have just cut the Assassins Creed junk out, made a character builder, balanced the ship system, and thrown it all online/multiplayer.

Yes I am aware everyone it takes much more than that to make it viable to play.

But my point was they had all the needed sitting on a silver platter in front of them. Waiting 10 years and cutting half the game and making it a glorified ship game with shallow ship building mechanics made noone happy. I know they would have probably had to cut some things but come on.

 

[Prima.Vera]

You know what else is funny?
The Japanese at that era were quite small height wise, averaging between 5-5.5ft. This can be seen visiting any museums or castles in Japan that displays authentic armor.
Now what did Ubi do? Brought a 6.5ft African dude, made him look like a giant compared to the locals, and having superpowers more than the Black Panther, by looking at the game videos.
No, really, just look at those videos with fighting combos and stuff!
Ubi just made the first African Samurai superhero!

 

[AsRock]

Just stop buying their games, every AC is a copy paste job, honestly, I played the first AC and could never understand what anyone could find even remotely entertaining about it, it is just worse Far Cry 3, repetitive, 4 types of missions, climb the tower. Repeat. Now also with the agenda.

Actually FC5 ( maybe better than all the rest ) was good how ever FC6 was total bollocks.

 

[AusWolf]

I was being sarcastic, its similar but they cut so much stuff it's just a joke. Plus, they took way too long to make it. I literally would have just cut the Assassins Creed junk out, made a character builder, balanced the ship system, and thrown it all online/multiplayer.

Yes I am aware everyone it takes much more than that to make it viable to play.

But my point was they had all the needed sitting on a silver platter in front of them. Waiting 10 years and cutting half the game and making it a glorified ship game with shallow ship building mechanics made noone happy. I know they would have probably had to cut some things but come on.

I see, fair enough.

I guess we have World of Warships for that purpose, albeit set in a different era.