Assassins Creed Shadows is the most important Ubisoft game ever Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished December 22, 2024 9:00am Assassins Creed Shadows theres a lot riding on it (Ubisoft)A reader is concerned that if Assassins Creed Shadows is a flop, then Ubisoft and the whole games industry will suffer for it.Im worried about Ubisoft. Theyre a 4 billion multinational company and I can barely pay my rent most months, but lately I feel like I have more common sense and business nous than them. Not just them but most of the games industry, and I dont mean that as a way to big myself up but an indication of just how incompetent most big Western publishers seem to be at the moment.Im sure its all more complicated than I realise but I have been concerned about recent comments that suggest Ubisoft is on the verge of real trouble. Not because theyre my favourite company (although I like them more than many, it seems) but because, as has also been pointed out, if they go under or get bought by some other company Tencent most likely, according to what theyre saying at the moment theres hardly anyone else left.If theres no Ubisoft then the only big third party Western publishers left are EA, Take-Two, and Warner Bros. And Im not sure Warner count, since theyre already part of a large company. And thats it really, in terms of publishers that can afford to make a triple-A game. Embracer as well, I guess, but I still dont understand who they are and theyve yet to make anything of worth in all the years theyve been around.Therere others, like CD Projekt, but theyre much smaller companies and while they can afford to make big budget games, they only release one every five years or so. So once Ubisoft go, we are really scraping the barrel in terms of there being a games industry at all, rather than just half a dozen megacorps that just happen to have a video games division (which theyre perfectly happy to gut the second they get a whiff of trouble).All of which brings us to Assassins Creed Shadows. Ubisofts problems have been slowly building for years now, with no successful new franchises and older ones that are beginning to get long in the tooth. Star Wars: Outlaws has been a failure, that clearly cost them a fortune, theyre nowhere near having a new Far Cry, The Division, or anything else that Im aware of. All theyve got is a dozen Assassins Creed games, which seems like far too much even for fans.I would say I am one of those fans, but I am very worried about Shadows, not only because it doesnt look that impressive but because if it fails then Assassins Creed itself is in trouble, and its the last thing Ubisoft has thats a guaranteed hit.There has been some newer footage for Shadows, that makes me more optimistic about its quality, but its never just whether the game is any good or not. If it has bad word of mouth already then theres probably nothing thats going to save it, which I believe is what Ubisoft is worried about at the moment.I dont want to get into the complaints about historical accuracy because Im pretty sure that nobody thats been making them is an expert on 16th century Japan, especially not the usual suspects moaning about it on Twitter and Reddit.But there has definitely been something off about the game in what theyve shown before. Its probably because the other eras Assassins Creed is set in dont usually appear in video games but because Japan does you can kind of tell things arent very realistic and Ubisoft is just basing it on pop cultural rather than the history books.Does that matter? Not if its a good game, but nothing Ive seen so far seems to be doing anything particularly new. Having two separate characters is all well and good but when theyre all doing usual Assassins Creed things, what does that matter?I may be wrong, I havent played it, but nothing Ive seen so far not even the new stuff has blown me away and I think thats true for a lot of people. But Ubisoft need this game to be a hit. If its a flop, or even just underperforms, theyve got nothing else big scheduled, and they are going to be looking at that buyout as their only way out of trouble.More TrendingI really hope it doesnt come to that but Im not confident and this is a situation where everyone loses if Ubisoft is hoovered up. The less independent companies we have in the games business the less variety theres going to be and the less risks are going to be taken, and at some point were going to reach the point where only $1 trillion companies, where making games is the 20th most important thing they do, are left.By reader Scooter Will it be hit? (Ubisoft)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy