Ubisoft CEO says Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Ghost of Yōtei ‘can both sell very well’ in 2025

Ubisoft has attempted to play down concerns that Ghost of Yōtei could eat into Assassin’s Creed Shadows sales after it delayed its flagship release on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Sony announced plans to release Ghost of Yōtei for PS5 in 2025. The Ghost of Tsushima sequel is set in Japan in 1603.

And earlier today, Ubisoft delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows from November to February 2025. The game is also set in Japan, and takes place in the late 16th century.

During a conference call on Wednesday, Ubisoft was asked if the outwardly similar historical action-adventure games both being released in 2025 could harm sales of its product.

“I would like to say that there’s a lot of space for very high quality games, and those two games can sell very well,” CEO Yves Guillemot responded.

Ubisoft’s chief financial officer, Frederick Duguet, said Ubisoft’s chief concern was making sure Assassin’s Creed Shadows hits its desired quality bar.

“On the competition related to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the focus is really to make sure that we deliver a fantastic experience, with the game’s dual protagonist approach, with two different and complementary gameplays, with Yasuke and Naoe, in a setting taking place in feudal Japan that should be really enticing,” he said.

“So all the focus and everything that really informs our decision [to delay the game] is to make sure that we polish the game and provide this fantastic promise.”

Previously scheduled to be released on November 15, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now launch on February 14, 2025.

While Ubisoft said the game is feature complete, it said it had decided to give its developers more time to polish the product based on the learnings from last month’s disappointing Star Wars Outlaws release.

Ubisoft also said today that it’s committed to improving the quality of Star Wars Outlaws after “initial sales proved softer than expected”.

The company told investors it plans to “swiftly implement a series of updates“ designed to get the game in shape for the key holiday shopping season.