Assassin’s Creed Shadows Drops Early Access
Assassin’s Creed Shadows can’t seem to smooth out its road to release. The game has been mired in controversy since its initial trailer, which revealed that the male playable character would be Yasuke, a historical figure that Ubisoft is portraying as a samurai, the accuracy of which is dubious at best. Then, the developers came under fire for using Chinese architecture in depicting feudal Japan, using modern flags that didn’t exist at the time (and which belonged to a Japanese battle reenactment group whose permission Ubisoft did not receive or even seek out), and using some very strange Japanese cultural consultants. The fallout has been fierce, as Ubisoft’s stock has been nosediving (thanks also to the debacle Star Wars Outlaws became), Assassin’s Creed Shadows has had its release delayed amid terrible pre-sales numbers, and investors have threatened a proxy war if changes aren’t made behind the scenes.
Now comes word from an Insider Gaming Q&A on Discord (via GameSpot) that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is dropping its early access offer to gamers who buy the collector’s edition of the game. As a result, the collector’s edition, which was previously priced at $280, will now cost $230, a $50 drop. There may also be changes to some or all of the features included with the collector’s edition, such as the steelbook case, an art book, and a statue. (I think we know they’re changing that last one, if they even include the statue anymore; another controversy for Assassin’s Creed Shadows was its use of a destroyed Torii gate, a symbol of the atomic destruction of Nagasaki during World War II.) There also will not be season passes for the game, which Ubisoft had already revealed.
I hope you didn’t pay extra for early access to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. pic.twitter.com/5aIooYLU5z
— Grummz (@Grummz) October 22, 2024
Different strokes for different folks and all, but I have no idea why anyone would pay $230 for a video game, let alone $280. Are all those extras really worth it, especially for something no one has played yet? I would understand a little more if it were something people loved, like a remastered classic that came with collectibles, but nobody knows if they like Yasuke and Naoe yet, or if Assassin’s Creed Shadows is worthy of a statue and a steelbook case. Even early access makes little sense to me unless you’re going to stream/review it online, or you’re just dying to play it. Regardless, this has to be embarrassing for Ubisoft, not only dropping the price of the collector’s edition (amid lousy pre-sales figures) but also losing a feature like early access. Presumably, this is because the game is still being polished – the main reason cited for the delayed release – but Yellowflash suspects Ubisoft may have a different motive:
Given the amount of bad press Ubisoft has gotten over Assassin’s Creed Shadows – despite having the entertainment media run the usual interference for them – I think a desire to avoid even more of it with early access makes sense. And if it’s true, that means they have no faith in the game, even with more time to fix any bugs or cultural mistakes. To be fair, the extra three months don’t amount to a whole lot in terms of video game development, and I can’t imagine they had problems big enough to delay the release but small enough that they could iron them out by February. Assassin’s Creed Shadows sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, and as Yellowflash points out in his video, Ubisoft really can’t afford another one, especially with perhaps its biggest franchise. But if it’s as bad as all that, eliminating early access won’t save it in the long run; they’re essentially putting a Band-Aid on a mortal wound.
Let us know what you think of Assassin’s Creed Shadows ditching early access in the comments!
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