Assassin's Creed Shadows Collector's Edition Price Drops $50 Amid Cancelled Season Pass and 'Early Access'

ign.com:

Ubisoft has cut the price of the Japan-set Assassin's Creed Shadows' Collector's Edition by $50 in lieu of the cancelled Season Pass, scrapped early access plans, and the game's delay to 2025.

The developer confirmed the price drop in a Discord post, telling fans it would now cost $229.99 instead of $279.99 and no longer contain a handful of the bonuses originally announced.

Ubisoft was a leading publisher behind the recent trend of offering "early access" to its games, which many have said is simply about charging fans more money to play often single-player games on their actual release date, and forcing those who stick to the standard $70 edition to wait three extra days.

Ubisoft had already made clear this would no longer be on offer for Assassin's Creed Shadows, announcing a single February 14, 2025 release date following a delay to its original plan of releasing the game across two dates next month: November 12 and November 15.

But getting to play Assassin's Creed Shadows on its actual release date of November 12 was one benefit of the Collector's Edition and, alongside the also included Season Pass being scrapped, many fans who'd already committed to paying $279.99 wondered how that cost would be made up.

Finally, almost a month after Ubisoft announced the delay and other changes, the company has confirmed the price drop for the Collector's Edition. "The content will mostly remain as initially advertised, though some design elements may change," it said.

The Collector's Edition now includes the game, a statue of dual protagonists Naoe and Yasuke, an art book, a life sized replica of Naoe's katana tsuba, a world map, wall scroll, and two lithographs for the $229.99 price tag.

Ubisoft hasn't enjoyed the promotional campaign it perhaps hoped for after revealing Assassin's Creed Shadows, a franchise entry set in Feudal Japan that fans have requested for years.

Some expressed frustration with inaccuracies in the game's depiction of Japan, leading the development team to