On February 24th, news broke of a significant leak: Assassin's Creed Shadows appeared online, with numerous individuals streaming gameplay a month before its official March 20th release.

The weekend saw further evidence of the leak, as noted by the GamingLeaksandRumours subreddit. Deleted social media posts revealed physical copies being sold prematurely, and unauthorized streams proliferated on platforms like Twitch.

Ubisoft, the developer and publisher, acknowledged the leak on the Assassin's Creed subreddit, urging players to refrain from spoiling the game for others. They stated that the development team is working on pre-launch patches, and that currently available footage doesn't reflect the game's final quality. The statement emphasized the negative impact of leaks on player excitement and thanked the community for efforts to prevent spoilers. Ubisoft concluded by encouraging players to avoid spoilers and look forward to official announcements in the coming weeks.

This leak adds to Ubisoft's recent challenges. The team previously apologized for unauthorized use of a historical recreation group's flag and for inaccuracies in the game's depiction of Japan. Assassin's Creed Shadows' release date has already been pushed back from November to February 14th, and then to March 20th. The game's success is crucial for Ubisoft, which has faced underwhelming sales of recent titles and investor criticism.