To many, it comes as no surprise that Star Wars Outlaws has only sold 1 million copies since it launched. This game was set to be Ubisoft’s biggest game, as this is the game that they funneled the most time and money into, but it has been a huge detriment to Ubisoft and has led to Ubisoft’s share prices dropping to a stark low. While some gamers have enjoyed this game, it has received a bunch of low scores and, as a result, has only sold a million in the month of its release. As a result of the failure of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft has taken this as an opportunity to turn it into a learning curve for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Considering the amount of money Ubisoft funneled into this game; they were shocked at how poorly the general audience received it. Before the game was even released, Ubisoft revealed details of their Season Pass roadmap for Star Wars Outlaws, which, as a whole, is quite a predatory move, as only those who own it would get access to new quests and a story to complete. Upon release, the Director of Star Wars Outlaws also expressed his surprise about the Metacritic score, despite the score at that point not being bad and received a 76, giving it the Generally Favorable status.
Ubisoft has commented that the game’s performance proved ‘softer than expected,’ and it’s possible that this is why Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed. Since the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the game has been nothing but controversial. Some were outraged by the inaccuracy of the story in the game, as well as people from Japan urged Ubisoft to either cancel the game or reshape it due to the problematic merchandise they revealed. The merchandise was of the protagonist of the game standing on a one-legged Torii gate, of which there is only one in the entirety of Japan. This particular Torii gate is a huge piece of Japan’s history, as it is a reminder of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Before the Tokyo Game Show started, Ubisoft quickly announced its self-removal from the exhibition and the cancelation of the live stream. They then announced the delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, with the game’s release date being moved to February 14, 2025. The company has claimed that the delay comes after “the learning from the Star Wars Outlaws release,” as developers continued to push for a delay, but was consistently ignored by those at the top.
Sources have claimed that the team has taken the criticism on board and is now working to address the historical and cultural concerns, which started during external playtests as well as mass feedback after the initial reveal. Yasuke’s story is now being tweaked, as well as his portrayal in the game and architectural fixes. According to sources, historical experts were hired very late into the development process of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and this led to a lot of miscommunication between teams.
Although the game is causing uproar among fans of the franchise, the number of pre-orders is said to be solid and will continue to rise now that it has been announced to be available on Steam from the start.
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