Assassin’s Creed Unity delayed to November

The release of Assassin's Creed Unity has been delayed, Ubisoft announced today. Originally set to release on October 28, the highly anticipated game has been pushed back two weeks and will now release in the U.S. on November 11 (November 13 for EMEA territories).

"It’s these little things, multiplied by the thousands, that a development team focuses on during the final push to ship a game. And with a massive open-world title like Assassin’s Creed Unity, all those little things add up fast," Ubisoft said in a blog post announcing the delay. "Toss in the fact that Unity has been built from the ground up as a new-gen Assassin’s Creed – and that final straight-line sprint to the finish suddenly feels like an obstacle course laden with curves, hurdles and pitfalls."

"This being a fully next-gen game, it requires a lot of work, a lot of production, and a lot of learning,” explained Senior Producer Vincent Pontbriand. “It’s always hard to be precise and to quantify exactly how much work is involved. So as we get close to the finish we often realize we’re near the target but we’re not quite there yet.”

Part of Ubisoft's grand ambitions with Unity has been building the game from the ground up as a "new-gen" Assassin's Creed. Add in the fact that they also had to adjust to new technology — the Xbox One and PS4 — and you'll start to see why a delay may be necessary.

“We rebuilt most of the systems,” Pontbriand said. “Sometimes to improve the experience. Sometimes to improve the gameplay itself. Sometimes to reskin it, to make it look fresh all over again. Or sometimes because we had to make everything online-compatible.”

According to Ubisoft, the extra two weeks will allow the team to focus on "those minor adjustments that can make a big difference – and ultimately help Ubisoft deliver on the promise of the game."

“Making games is not a precise science. It’s a leap of faith. There’s a good level of subjectivity and creativity,” Pointbriand said. “We have a bunch of us who have spent two, three years or more on this project. It’s a huge personal investment. People have been truly dedicated to this game. For them it’s also important to make a game that they can be proud of.”

Ubisoft will continue to work on the game even beyond the ship date, resulting in a Day 1 patch that will offer "even more improvements" to Unity. Though the news is probably disappointing for many, I actually welcome the delay if it ensures a much better gameplay experience.