UPDATE: Ubisoft And Assassin’s Creed Shadows Faced With Turbulence

The latest game in Ubisoft’s acclaimed franchise is slated for release on March 20, 2025 and is already in the center of turbulence with regards to the historical accuracy of the game and rumors of Ubisoft preparing to sell off the franchise after poor financial performance.

In the third quarter of 2024-25 ending Dec. 31, 2024, the French video game company reported a substantial drop of net bookings by €301.8 million ($329.8 million) or 52% compared to the same period in the previous year.

Meanwhile, minority shareholders Tencent with a stake of just under 10% has been reported to be in talks of buying out Ubisoft but a dispute of control of the company has halted the deal. Ubisoft is currently controlled by the French Guillemot family who founded the company in 1986, and is said to refuse giving up the reins of the company.

Another Ubisoft investor AJ Investments has called for a protest outside the company’s office in Paris, France on May 28, 2025 unless the company produces a detailed plan of how to fix the current state of the company finances and the future of its gaming assets.

“Our view as a company is that Ubisoft should really consider whether it’s not going to be better to sell it. I think we will see something in the coming weeks, because there’s the release (of Assassin’s Creed Shadows) and after that they (Ubisoft) will have a better position because they will know what the sales are,” said Juraj Krupa, CEO of AJ Investments.

Ubisoft Evaluation

Ubisoft’s current market capitalization hovers around $1.87 billion which is a decrease of 33.43% year-on-year. However, the company’s franchises are worth a lot more and Ubisoft has reportedly sought to have them evaluated for potential sales.

This has angered minority shareholders further as they believe they should have been informed about Ubisoft’s decision to spin off core assets without consulting them. In response, Ubisoft has pointed to their latest Q3 earnings report where this is addressed.

“The review of various transformational strategic and capitalistic options is now ongoing. The Board has established an ad-hoc independent Committee to oversee this formal and competitive process, so as to extract the best value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises for all stakeholders,” the report said.

Tencent has been floated as a potential partner with Ubisoft in a new joint venture which would be placed in control of the most valuable of the franchises. This solution could be an alternative to Tencent buying out Ubisoft.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Leaked And Heavily Criticized

The upcoming game has been picked apart by critics online for its lack of historical accuracy, ranging from artwork which is said to be Chinese rather than Japanese to the authenticity of Yasuke, a black samurai who is one of the two playable characters, and the level of gore said to be too much for the Japanese market.

According to Ubisoft, game developers who work on the game have been told not to mention what they are working on on social media after what they say has become a targeted harassment campaign against its employees.

Ubisoft has been reported to be working with Canada’s Communications Security Establishment to monitor comments on X (Twitter), Reddit, and YouTube directed towards Ubisoft staff for the purpose of possibly taking legal action in the form of lawsuits.

Eneba can confirm that this information is wrong. Janny Bender Asselin, working for the Media and Public Affairs Department of Canada’s Communications Security Establishment, wrote in an email to Eneba that these reports are incorrect.

“The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) does not monitor social media comments as described in media reporting around the release of Ubisoft’s newest video game. CSE is Canada’s national cryptologic agency, which provides the Government of Canada with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence,” she wrote and added: “Monitoring Canadian social media for online disinformation is not part of CSE’s mandate.”

A version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows has already been leaked ahead of its official release and it’s been acknowledged by the verified Assassin’s Creed X account.

“We are aware players have accessed Assassin’s Creed Shadows ahead of its official release. The development team is still working on patches to prepare the experience for launch and any footage shared online does not represent the final quality of the game,” a tweet from Feb. 24, 2025, said.

“Leaks are unfortunate and can diminish the excitement for players. We kindly ask you not to spoil the experience for others.”

Luke Stephens runs a self-titled YouTube channel dedicated to deep diving into the intricacies of the gaming industry, game news, reviews, game critiques, analyses, and extensive rants. On Feb. 25, 2025, he addressed the leaking of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and called the production and marketing cycle of the game as being cursed.

“I cannot think of another game that has suffered so many setbacks, so many, like, scandals, so many issues within the game’s marketing cycle, it’s bizarre,” Stephens said. “I don’t know if Shadows is cursed or that we’re just very aware of it so there’s a lot more reporting and attention towards these scandals that wouldn’t normally apply to other games.”

“Ubisoft really cannot catch a break with this game,” he said.

Ultimately, the future of Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be determined by the sales figures once the game is released.

*Editor’s note: Ubisoft and Tencent did not reply to requests for comments.