Upcoming Assassin's Creed Game May Have Been Delayed

Developer Tencent has reportedly delayed its mobile game Assassin's Creed Jade to 2025, following a big strategic shift at the company. The Assassin's Creed game has been in development for four years.

Assassin's Creed Jade is set in ancient China, where users unravel mysteries surrounding the Qin Dynasty. Its website explains that Jade features the «classic» stealth, parkour, and assassination gameplay that Assassin's Creed fans have come to love. Historically, Tencent has succeeded in translating the gameplay of hit titles to mobile devices, as it developed games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile. However, the massive Chinese company seems to be taking a step back from certain franchises.

Reuters reported that Tencent is moving away from adapting big-budget Western franchises, instead shifting its focus to homegrown ideas like the recently released DreamStar. This strategic shift resulted in hundreds of employees being reassigned from Assassin's Creed Jade, leading to its delay. One of the main reasons for this change is reportedly the thin margins that come with developing games like Jade, as well as Tencent's rivals focusing on in-house projects like NetEase's Eggy Party and miHoYo's Genshin Impact, both of which have been huge hits and allow the developers to retain all profits. In a recent earnings call, Tencent reported a slight decline in gaming sales, which, combined with other shortfalls, has apparently created a sense of urgency within the company to change.

Back in August, leaked Assassin's Creed Jade gameplay proved that the game was well into development, as the nearly 90-minute video showed a user navigating a large open world, engaging in fast-paced combat, and completing various missions. Fans previously hoped for a release date sometime in 2024, but this has been pushed back to a vague 2025 window according to sources.

Although Tencent has successful mobile adaptions under its belt, it's also fallen short on high-profile projects before. Last