It’s fair to say that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be a make-or-break moment for Ubisoft. The French publisher enjoyed a great degree of success last decade, but in recent years, its share price has plummeted, and all recent games have been a failure.
To make matters worse, reports flooded in last December that Ubisoft might face a Tencent takeover in the future if the downward spiral continues. While nothing has materialized, it seems like it won’t be long before Ubisoft meets its end, as Assassin’s Creed Shadows is already following a path set by Star Citizen that is making gamers question everything.
Star Citizen‘s $770 million legacy should be a lesson for Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t just one of Ubisoft’s most controversial games; it’s one of the most expensive ones made by the studio, right behind Skull & Bones. Reports suggest that the production budget is somewhere between $250 million – $350 million, and the game has been in development since 2018.
The game was supposed to be released in November 2024, but Ubisoft pushed back because it was concerned about getting Assassin’s Creed Shadows right. However, the release delay to February 2025 apparently cost the studio $20 million. The second delay to March 20, 2025, has most likely added to the overall development cost, but we don’t know the figures yet.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows delay cost Ubisoft $21 Million.
The budget is rumored to be between $250-350M without marketing. (Maybe $400M with).
50M (and under) dollar games are pulling in 200k-300k concurrent on steam.
If you are an investor, you would be worried. The meta has… pic.twitter.com/HtLw4z2Spk
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 11, 2025
All of these insane development costs might remind you of another game that’s following a similar path: Star Citizen. As reported by GameGPU, the game has managed to raise over $774 million. Despite those figures, developer Cloud Imperium Games is still years away from releasing even the first proper alpha of the title, and the majority of the players believe it’s just a big scam.
Considering all the development costs and delays, it’s fair to assume that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going to cost Ubisoft around $400 million to $500 million to develop. It’s unfortunately following the same precedent set by Star Citizen, and while it’s actually releasing soon, gamers don’t have much hope for the title.
With Ubisoft’s current financial struggles, if Assassin’s Creed Shadows flops, forget about a Tencent takeover; there’s a high chance the company could go bankrupt. That’s seriously a terrible fate for a publisher that has given some genre-defining hits.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be playable on Steam Deck
As expected, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be available to play on all the major platforms. However, many in the community wondered if the game would be compatible with Steam Deck. Ubisoft initially stated that the title wouldn’t be playable due to the handheld’s specs being below the minimum PC requirements.
However, it seems like that won’t be the case anymore. Assassin’s Creed official account on Twitter/X has revealed that Shadows will be available on Steam Deck at launch. However, Ubisoft is still waiting for Valve’s official Steam Deck verification.
Many of you have been asking about Steam Deck. We are happy to say that we are supporting Steam Deck at launch and are currently awaiting the level of classification from Valve. More info to come soon.
— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) March 12, 2025
Ubisoft’s first comments on the game’s playability on Steam Deck came in late February. The publisher stated that while the title wouldn’t be playable on the handheld at launch, there was always a possibility of it being refined for Steam Deck in the future.
It’s great to see that Ubisoft has got Assassin’s Creed Shadows working on Steam Deck. It’s going to be a victory for Steam Deck players who were disappointed that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed won’t be playable on the go.
With that said, are you excited about Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Let us know in the comments below.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
