Ubisoft Repeats Past Mistakes, And Past Successes, In Addressing ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Leak

A couple of years back, we talked about how Ubisoft handled its own accidental leak of the Beyond Good & Evil remaster to its subscribers. Months before it was due to be released, a technical error resulted in an incomplete version of the game suddenly being available on Ubisoft+. Some people grabbed copies of it, played it, and streamed or uploaded footage of the game on YouTube and elsewhere. Understandably, Ubisoft freaked out, worried that an un-finished version of the game showing up might tarnish what would eventually be a complete game. To that end, they stupidly went out and attempted to DMCA to death every bit of content and information about the leaked game and footage before eventually landing on what was the right way to handle this all along.

That’s exactly what Ubisoft should have done from the jump. Acknowledge the leak, note it’s not in its finished state, express excitement for the finished product, fin.

This past week, it appears some folks got their hands on copies of Assassin’s Creed Shadows prior to its release. As you’d expect, those copies were played or resold on the internet, after which footage of the game was uploaded to all kinds of streaming and social media sites. And if you’re wondering if Ubisoft learned its lesson from its previous experience with this sort of thing, rest assured the company instead decided to learn it all over again.

This past weekend, photos posted online showed several fans now had access to early physical copies of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, while others claimed to have briefly been able to download a digital version of the game from the PlayStation Store.

Chunks of gameplay footage are now easily findable online, even as Ubisoft battles to remove the videos. Other fans have posted summaries of their time with the game so far, including story spoilers. And there’s still weeks to go until Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ 20th March launch date.

Yup, the company attempted to play bury-the-leak via takedowns once again. And, as you’d expect, it is going precisely as well as the last attempt. Which is to say terribly. And, because of those actions, even more attention is being paid to that leaked footage.

As it did last time, Ubisoft eventually got around to saying all the right words.

“We are aware players have accessed Assassin’s Creed Shadows ahead of its official release,” Ubisoft said in a message from the Assassin’s Creed community team, posted to reddit. “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’s statement continues. “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! 20th March will be here soon!”

The statement is, once more, just about perfect. It does everything Ubisoft needs: informs the public that the leaked game isn’t complete, expresses excitement for the release, thanks and otherwise looks out for its fans, and so on. There was zero need to try to play whac-a-mole with the leaks.

In fact, it sure sounds like Ubisoft should have used the leak instead.

Physical copies of the game were likely manufactured weeks if not months ago, while Ubisoft will continue to issue patches up to and beyond the game’s street date in March. That said, fans report not seeing too many issues with the game so far.

Not seeing too many issues in a leaked game that hasn’t gotten its inevitable day-one patch is about as much of an endorsement as a gaming company could hope for.

What I’m hoping for, however, is that Ubisoft doesn’t have to learn this lesson a third time.