Ubisoft has introduced its highly-anticipated upcoming recreation Murderer’s Creed Shadows has been delayed till subsequent yr.
As an alternative of releasing it on 12 November as beforehand deliberate, it has been pushed again to 14 February 2025.
It follows the disappointing efficiency of one other of the agency’s main titles, Star Wars Outlaws, and issues from some about how Ubisoft is being run.
The sport’s govt producer Marc-Alexis Cote mentioned the builders “want extra time to shine and refine the expertise”.
“We perceive this resolution will come as disappointing information,” he mentioned.
“However we sincerely imagine that is in the very best curiosity of the sport.”
In a buying and selling replace despatched to Ubisoft’s buyers, seen by the BBC, the agency – which is headquartered in France – mentioned regardless of the sport being “characteristic full” it wanted extra time.
“The learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws launch led us to offer further time to additional polish the title,” it reads.
Star Wars Outlaws was launched in August to sturdy critiques, however early gamers complained of bugs and glitches.
In its buying and selling replace, Ubisoft notes gross sales of the sport have been “softer than anticipated”, which it gave the impression to be placing all the way down to an absence of polish.
Mr Cote mentioned the agency would refund followers who had pre-ordered the sport, and promised a free enlargement to anybody who positioned a brand new pre-order for the revised launch.
When it lastly arrives, Murderer’s Creed Shadows would be the first recreation within the collection to be set in Japan – a setting followers have been clamouring for for the reason that collection started in 2007.
The choice to push the sport again past Christmas – normally a profitable time for recreation gross sales – is not going to have been made calmly.
However the gross sales efficiency of Star Wars Outlaws prompted Ubisoft’s shares to take a severe hit, when the agency would have been hoping the sport would set it again on target.
They’ve fallen to a worth of 11.32 euros a share on the time of writing – the bottom in a decade.
A minority investor wrote a letter to the board earlier this month calling for the corporate to both be taken non-public or bought to an investor.
Ubisoft co-founder and boss Yves Guillemot mentioned the transfer to push again Murderer’s Creed Shadows’ launch was a results of the agency’s second quarter efficiency – which “fell kind of our expectations”.
“We stay dedicated to creating video games for followers and gamers that everybody can take pleasure in,” he mentioned.
