Ubisoft Responds to Latest Assassin's Creed Shadows PS5 Crisis

Apparently some folks took that pre-order bonus WAY too seriously…

That said…barring the usual Ubisoft day one patch, how can the actual disc copy not be representative of final quality? Were these discs in a warehouse since last year? We knew they’d require an internet connection to even install, so maybe these were made around the original launch date, and all the supposed polish and improvements will come in the form of a nice big 60-70 GB patch.

Or these folks are playing almost the final product and Ubisoft is spinning as fast as they can in case leaked footage/story beats end up turning people off of the game.

Either way…whoopsie!

Given how much this game has been through, at this point I'd almost think it was cursed 👻

@dskatter That's what I feel the last delay was at the very last minute. They must've already had physical copies in store.

Was this a stealth release?
Lol

In all seriousness though, couldnt they just release a patch that breaks the game until nearer to launch?

@Rich33 That's what I had thought. Since games seem to leak pretty frequently now, I figured at least one of these companies would have already figured out a way to keep people from playing early just in case. But since it's a physical copy I guess those players could theoretically just play it offline to bypass any update.

Spoiler: Solid Snake isn’t the main character instead you will be playing as Raiden after the prologue

I will stay in the shadows until reviews and performances are up 👤🥷

It's going to feel so weird seeing a new Assassin's Creed drop in March. I'm going to see it on the store shelf & think Xmas is right around the corner!

@Rich33 Can you imagine this : all disc games from now on won't be playable with only what is on the disc, and will need the day one patch to even start.
Why are we giving them ideas?

Ubisoft know footage will be available online and they also know it will damage sales. A day one patch will definitely help with some issues. Unfortunately for them the damage will already be done though.

@Rich33 i would imagine anyone with an early copy would have switch off their internet connection.

These dudes can’t catch a break at this point.a buyout in 2025-2026 seems likely, tho if they went after their better IP’s they could make a long recovery. Sad times at Ubisoft.

@Boxmonkey @Olmaz @JackiePriest

I was just thinking of them trying to mitigate the damage this time.

In the future though I think they need a way of preventing this early access that is maybe a bit more robust, and cant be bypassed as easily.

As an example:
The PS5 needs to double check the disc each time the game is loaded.
At the same time it could check off against a 'banned' list or a 'safe' list - whichever is the easiest / most thorough to implement.
The list could be held in the OS and updated behind the scenes the day before a major launch. It would only be a tiny piece of code, so wouldnt affect those with slow Internet.
This system need only apply to major games susceptible to spoilers.
Review copies would need a bypass, but I cant imagine that would be too difficult either.

@Rich33 I imagine these type of systems will be implemented in the future. I just hope that after the release date these checks are removed so you won’t get locked out when your internet is down.

@Fartingale Preorder canceled, Kojima is dead to me

@Boxmonkey
Yeah, thats why I would use a safe or banned list - as soon as your console is updated the day before launch, it would be good whether you are online or not, as the checks would be made against a list in your consoles OS.

Do people even care about the plot of AC games? They screwed the overarching plot so much that I don't think anything matters anymore. It's more like a tourists game to old world settings.

Pretty sad, but the game is looking very good so far. Hope it turns out well and everyone enjoys it. All the moaning gets tiring. Play, enjoy (or not), and move on in life.

I’ve heard of players getting games a few days early, but a whole month is crazy!

This could well be a naive take, but how hard is it to have some system whereby even an installed game won't activate and become playable until it receives a signal online through the PS5 itself, the timing of which is down to the publisher, so they could potentially delay a release date and stop people from playing copies early, even if they stay offline.
I realise this steps on the toes of the those who don't want to be online all the time, but I can't imagine this amounts to many people these days - and also if it's a game they are genuinely up for, going online to have the install activated shouldn't really be a major issue should it?
Obviously this is still subject to waiting on a potentially huge day one patch to install, but it could go some way to stopping people posting entire playthroughs online well before the actual launch date.

@purple_mouse_gaming that would rightfully get shot down in outrage very quickly. If people pay for a product and there is no notice at point of sale that it won't be able to be activated until X date you can't just add that barrier afterwards. Except in the case of stolen copies it's not the consumers fault they got it early.

It would also mean those people who don't have internet connection, no matter how few they are, can now never play the game. Worse than the XBox One fiasco.

@Rich33 Console Review copies are usually digital and have been for some years. They may even be account specific to prevent unauthorised access or black market sale. I believe Digital Foundry have a central account for review code that is shared between the team so that whoever needs access to the game (which can change at short notice) at any time can get it or so they can test the online modes.

I don’t think there are any ps5 “promo” discs at all.

This is very sad news all that work and effort, not to mention scandal's and negative press from over entitled gamers who scream "Woke" when they see character with different color or gender. I Hope this Game comes out on top after its release...
BUY CANADIAN!!!

@themightyant

From your response, Im not sure how far you have read in the comments so apologies if this is covering some old ground.

In terms of breaking then fixing with a patch I was just thinking about this occasion to try and mitigate some of the damage - some of these 'early' players must be daft enough to leave their console online!

As a permanent method I was thinking down the lines of:

• All games at risk of major leakage will require a check against a 'safe list' at the same time the console checks the disc is in the drive.
• This 'safe list' is stored on the console and 'lives' within the OS.
• The 'safe list' would only apply to those major games, at risk of spoiling - even if this was 3 per month, thats less than 300 per generation.
• The 'safe list' is updated the day before launch, behind the scenes, to include the game launching the following day - as its only a list of names or codes the download size would be tiny, so wouldnt affect slow Internet users.
• Every console would keep a full copy of the 'safe list' , and it would exist irrespective of the games attempted to be played on that console.

That way I cant see a real issue with game preservation as as soon as the console receives its quick 'safe list' update, that game will launch forever more without any online interaction - even if you 1st tried to play the game years after launch, it would already be on the safe list from launch.

The only rare case game preservation issue I can see would be if you were to keep a boxed console that had never been connected to the Internet, and then tried to play on it for the 1st time after PS5 servers have been shut down long in the future. But this case comes fraught with other issues to do with the console using an outdated OS I would imagine.
The easiest way round it would be to keep a system software update (which could include the latest 'safe list') on a memory stick - I think they still allow you to update the system software in this way - and update the console at 1st use.

I agree there would be a few concessions, but I just dont see how the industry can carry on like it is - I mean spoilers a month before launch is just ridiculous.
Its bad enough avoiding spoilers just from thumbnails!

Edit - removed an unintentional Emoji - those things do my head in when they appear from punctuation!

@themightyant
Yeah, there is that - maybe there is an alternative bypass route for reviewers but @Lowdefal suggested that this wouldnt normally be an issue as they receive digital copies (and I dont know enough to agree / disagree with this).

@themightyant
I will just say that this is just me, off the top of my head trying to come up with an idea to an increasing problem, which im sure the likes of Sony should be able to improve upon.

I think what confuses me is that this still keeps happening and Sony etc dont seem to have a solution out there. I do think its the platform holders that need a system in place, not the publishers / devs.

Mind you, in an ideal world you wouldnt have physical copies being stolen or obtained early (or however this has happened) either!