Yesterday, February 24, we reported that Assassin’s Creed Shadows had leaked online, with numerous people streaming the game a month ahead of its official release date on March 20.
Over the weekend, as spotted by the GamingLeaksandRumours subreddit, now-deleted social media posts showed physical copies of the game being sold ahead of its street date, and multiple streams of the unreleased game popped up on platforms like Twitch.
Developer and publisher Ubisoft has now responded to the leak, confirming on the Assassin's Creed subreddit that it was aware of the issue, and implored players not to "spoil the experience for others."
"We are aware players have accessed Assassin’s Creed Shadows ahead of its official release. The development team is still working on patches to prepare the experience for launch, and any footage shared online does not represent the final quality of the game.
"Leaks are unfortunate and can diminish the excitement for players," Ubisoft added. "We kindly ask you not to spoil the experience for others. Thank you to our community for already taking steps to protect everyone from spoilers.
"Stay in the shadows, avoid the spoilers, and keep an eye on our channel for more official surprises in the coming weeks! March 20 will be here soon!"
The leaks will be another blow for Ubisoft and its leading Assassin's Creed series. The development team has already had to apologize for using a historical recreation group's flag without permission, and then again for inaccuracies in Assassin's Creed Shadows' depictions of Japan.
Assassin's Creed Shadows was initially scheduled to release in November, but Ubisoft bumped it back to February 14, and then again to the current release date of March 20. A struggling Ubisoft needs it to perform well following lackluster sales of other recent releases and an investor backlash.
