Ubisoft has reduce the value of the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Collector’s Edition by $50 in lieu of the cancelled Season Pass, scrapped early entry plans, and the sport’s delay to 2025.
The developer confirmed the value drop in a Discord submit, telling followers it might now price $229.99 as an alternative of $279.99 and now not include a handful of the bonuses initially introduced.
Ubisoft was a number one writer behind the latest pattern of providing “early entry” to its video games, which many have stated is just about charging followers more cash to play usually single-player video games on their precise launch date, and forcing those that follow the usual $70 version to attend three further days.
Ubisoft had already made clear this is able to now not be on supply for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, saying a single February 14, 2025 launch date following a delay to its unique plan of releasing the sport throughout two dates subsequent month: November 12 and November 15.
However attending to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows on its precise launch date of November 12 was one good thing about the Collector’s Edition and, alongside the additionally included Season Pass being scrapped, many followers who’d already dedicated to paying $279.99 questioned how that price could be made up.
Lastly, nearly a month after Ubisoft introduced the delay and different adjustments, the corporate has confirmed the value drop for the Collector’s Edition. “The content material will largely stay as initially marketed, although some design parts could change,” it stated.
The Collector’s Edition now consists of the sport, a statue of twin protagonists Naoe and Yasuke, an artwork guide, a life sized reproduction of Naoe’s katana tsuba, a world map, wall scroll, and two lithographs for the $229.99 price ticket.
Ubisoft hasn’t loved the promotional marketing campaign it maybe hoped for after revealing Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a franchise entry set in Feudal Japan that followers have requested for years.
Some expressed frustration with inaccuracies within the sport’s depiction of Japan, main the event staff to problem an apology and say the sport will not be meant to be a factual illustration of historical past however as an alternative “a compelling, historic fiction.” This comes regardless of artwork director Thierry Dansereau telling IGN Ubisoft appeared to make the sport as “genuine as doable to match historic occasions” simply two months prior.
It additionally emphasised its collaboration with exterior consultants and historians, however “regardless of these sustained efforts, we acknowledge that some parts in our promotional supplies have brought about concern throughout the Japanese group,” Ubisoft stated. “For this, we sincerely apologize.”
Concern was additionally raised when the developer used a flag from a Japanese historic re-enactment group in paintings for Assassin’s Creed Shadows with out permission. Ubisoft apologized for doing so however refused to take away the paintings from the aforementioned and presumably already printed artbook accessible within the Collector’s Edition. The historic re-enactment group stated this was not ok, however Ubisoft hasn’t publicly acknowledged it since.
Yet one more controversy got here as collectible determine maker PureArts eliminated an Assassin’s Creed Shadows statue from sale over its “insensitive” design.
All this comes as followers are already pissed off by the delay to the sport, which places Assassin’s Creed Shadows in additional direct competitors with PlayStation’s Ghost of Tsushima sequel, Ghost of Yotei. That is additionally anticipated in 2025 and is one other open-world motion journey sport set in Feudal Japan.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot maintained confidence, nonetheless. “There’s loads of area for very high-quality video games, and these two video games can promote very nicely,” he stated within the firm’s newest earnings name. “The main target is to essentially make it possible for we ship a implausible expertise with this twin protagonist method and two totally different and complimentary gameplays.”
Assassins Creed Shadows certainly options two protagonists, stealthy murderer Naoe and savage samurai Yasuke. The sport’s story will weave between the 2 however gamers can in any other case swap between them at will as they discover Ubisoft’s open-world tackle Japan.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.