Physical copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows leak nearly a month ahead of its release date

Nearly a month ahead of its scheduled release, physical copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows have reportedly leaked, and people on social media are sharing images, gameplay clips, and other details about the game.

Copies of the game were reportedly being offered on Facebook Marketplace, and TheGamer has an image of one seller offering multiple copies for sale on online marketplace Mercari. Clips of gameplay have also been posted on Twitch and elsewhere, and while Ubisoft appears to be moving quickly to take them down, they're not hard to find if you want to look. (To avoid potential spoilers, we will not be posting links.)

One person on Reddit noted that the leaked version being played is an "old build" that noticeably lacks some of the improvements that were promised when Assassin's Creed Shadows was delayed out of 2024. That's not terribly surprising given that the discs would have been produced weeks or months ago, and that weeks remain before full release. In the era of digital distribution, developers are typically working on games right up to the moment they go live, ensuring that everything is as it should be (or at least as close to it as possible) in a now-ubiquitous day one patch that's meant to be available by the time you get your hands on that disc.

Regardless, this is a headache Ubisoft doesn't need, especially given the long, bumpy road Assassin's Creed Shadows has travelled so far. It's been beset by problems pretty much from the moment it was announced in 2024: Aggrieved gamer outrage over the presence of the Black samurai Yasuke, a couple of self-inflicted injuries, and of course the last-minute delay that pushed it into February, and then March. In a way, this kind of last-minute mess almost feels inevitable: It's been such a drawn-out rough go for Assassin's Creed Shadows that one more stepped-on rake only makes sense.

Ubisoft hasn't commented on the leak at this point, but I've reached out for more information and will update if I receive a reply.