Ubisoft boss says it knows players think it has an 'inconsistency in quality,' so it delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows to flip that script

pcgamer.com:

People have their gripes, but I still quite enjoy a big old Ubisoft open world. There's something about the studio's formula for things like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry that lets me achieve a kind of zen state: Just me, a controller, a map full of little icons to tick off, and absolutely zero regions of my brain lighting up. Bliss.

But lord knows I am not the market at large, and it's not difficult to find people criticising the company for its games' samey-ness, or writing, or straight-up technical bugs. Ubisoft knows that too, which is why Assassin's Creed's vice president executive producer Marc-Alexis Coté recently told Eurogamer that «Ubisoft's portfolio has faced criticism in recent years for a perceived inconsistency in quality,» and that's why AC Shadows got pushed to February next year.

«Players can afford to be selective, choosing only the best, and they rightfully demand excellence,» said Côté. Your average player in 2024 expects «more polish, more innovation and deeper engagement from the games we release, and they're not shy about letting us know when they feel we have fallen short.» Boy, ain't that the truth?

In other words, Ubisoft has been stung by all the criticism it's gotten, and «Assassin's Creed Shadows represents our opportunity to change that narrative, not just for Assassin's Creed, but I think for Ubisoft as a whole.» Hence the shift to a February release after originally being penned in for November this year. «In today's market, being amongst the best is just not enough anymore.»

So, to boil it down, it sounds like Côté is saying Shadows was in a good but not great spot for a November release—at least in Ubisoft's estimation—and that the game has been delayed to give it a chance to reach that next level of quality before it gets into players' hands.

What that translates to in non-exec speak is harder to say. Was the game gonna be a trainwreck if it had launched in November? Would it have just been a little buggy? Has Ubisoft been spooked