As a games journalist, lots of games coming out is generally considered a good thing. It gives me lots of things to write about, gives you lots of things to search for in order to read said things, and since enjoying playing video games is the only reason anyone would want to do this career, the fact it offers up plenty of new experiences to play is also a major positive. But February 2025 has reached critical mass, and there are officially too many games.
If everything holds, February 2025 will see the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Avowed, Civilization 7, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. That’s too many games in what is usually a lighter month. But the headline is not entirely speculative here – there is a reason why so many games have chosen February, and they now have nowhere else left to go. They have to gamble that they will win the royal rumble, and some of them will lose badly.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Didn’t Have Much Choice
For most of us, the year runs from January 1 to December 31. For the businesses of the world, things are not so simple. Each company has their own fiscal year that begins in different months each time. For Ubisoft, it runs April to March. That means when Shadows wasn’t ready for its original September release date, it needed to find a new date before March. October and November weren’t enough time, last year’s Avatar will have scared Ubisoft off December, January is typically a graveyard, and March is cutting it too fine to recoup sales. So, February it is.
Ubisoft chose February with its eyes open – it was already stacked before Shadows joined the party. But it was the only month it could have feasibly picked, which leaves it in a tough spot. Despite brand recognition, the Assassin’s Creed name no longer sells itself. While some will point to the general swirling controversy around Yasuke in the game, the truth is AC has burned a lot of goodwill with gamers in ways Monster Hunter and Like a Dragon, both series seeing a consistent increase in popularity, have not.
This puts Shadows in a tough spot. Ubisoft needs this game to succeed, and if it fails I have no idea what lessons will be learned or what decisions will be made. Ubisoft has not shown much foresight in recent years, barrelling forward with outdated ideas and wondering why they flop. This from the company who once famously built a game around the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. February is the worst time to launch Shadows, but also the only possible time to do it.
Shadows’ failure, if it happens, will undoubtedly be blamed on Yasuke by the loudest stew stirrers in gaming, but Assassin’s Creed has been ailing for a while. Though Ubisoft’s contradictory reaction to the blowback won’t have helped, the game does not rest on Yasuke alone.
Avowed Did, And Chose February Anyway
The other game that draws my attention here is Avowed. Like Shadows, it was delayed into February rather than choosing it more freely. However, Microsoft’s fiscal year runs July to June, so it seems like its back isn’t against the wall as much. Then again, Xbox does not appear to have sympathy of the wider audience and even its hardcore fans seem disgruntled. Another delay would be a short term headache, but it could save a longer lasting loss.
There are a lot of complicated financial factors in play with quarterly reports, shareholder expectations, and the general fact that Xbox is fighting against the current and selling off exclusives and contorting its Game Pass strategy to catch up. While a little less black and white than Ubisoft needing a solid triple-A hit this year after Star Wars Outlaws and several other games underperformed, maybe Avowed has no choice beyond February either. It’s certainly tough to see why Xbox would pitch its new IP (technically a Pillars of Eternity spin-off, but that’s not a franchise name) against so many established names.
It may be that in-house analysts point to Feburary being the best window, but that could be overlooking that 2025 is not a typical February
I’m not really concerned about Monster Hunter or Like a Dragon because I think they will find their audience. I suspect there is considerable crossover between Civ and Kingdom Come fans (there certainly is at TheGamer) which makes their Barbenheimer release of Feb 11 feel risky in its own way, but I don’t think the February congestion otherwise impacts them. Avowed or Shadows could spring a surprise too, there’s definitely a large enough audience interested in them. But it’s hard to see every major game in February being a smash hit – there just aren’t enough gamers to go around.
Lost Records I feel a little sorry for – if it really did move to avoid Life is Strange: Double Exposure (and I suspect that may have been a bit of an excuse for a game struggling for traction), then it has jumped out of the very cold frying pan of competing with the lowest rated Life is Strange yet to leap into the fire of triple-A giants. While there is no obvious crossover between Lost Records and other games here, the other games pull massive audiences and some will choose to delay or forgo Lost Records in order to ride a shinier hype train.
February could be the most crowded month of the year, and while perhaps not great for wallets, it is nice for gamers on an individual level to have so many games to choose from. But for the games themselves, it adds a layer of competition that all of them could do without, and it will be fascinating to see who comes through unscathed, and who falls in this clash of the titans.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
- Released
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February 14, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Ubisoft Quebec