It seems that Claws of Awaji will be the only post-launch expansion Assassin’s Creed Shadows fans are going to get, as Ubisoft has announced that it is scrapping plans to launch a second major DLC.
The cancelled expansion would have been a part of the game’s Season Pass, which was also cut prior to launch as a way to appease fans following its delay from November 2024 to February 2025. Instead, Ubisoft offered its first DLC, Claws of Awaji, for free for those who pre-ordered the game, with fans assuming that more expansions were to come as per the company’s status quo, but now it seems that the studio is breaking from tradition.
Speaking during an interview with YouTuber JorRaptor, associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois outlined the studio’s shift in strategy for Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ post-launch content. “As of now, at this moment for Year Two, there is no expansion on the size of Awaji that is planned,” he explained, “We’re still working on content for post-launch and supporting it, but it’s not a full-on DLC the way a season pass would have had in the previous years.”
“We’re trying to re-adjust for Year Two a little bit,” he continued. “There’s learning from Year One that we can apply to Year Two. Any content we want to do in Year Two is probably be more sparse… but chunkier updates that shake things up a little more. I’m not announcing anything at this point but our strategy for Year One was to be quick and reactive, so [that meant] smaller drops often, but for Year Two we don’t need to put fires out or anything, so it’s more of what good, chunky little piece of meat we can drop and have people come back and enjoy it.”
This, of course, comes as a major change, considering how previous entries had at least two major post-launch expansions, with 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins receiving The Hidden Ones and The Curse of the Pharaohs, 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey getting Legacy of the First Blade and The Fate of Atlantis, while 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was supported with three major DLCs, Wrath of the Druids, The Siege of Paris, and Dawn of Ragnarök, with 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage also starting its life as its fourth DLC before growing to become a standalone title.
As to why Ubisoft are changing things up this time around, Lemay-Comtois’s comments hinted that Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ post-launch plans were impacted by its reception, with priority instead placed on “fighting fires”, such as adding numerous patches that introduced fan-requested features like New Game+, nightmare difficulty, and other quality-of-life features. He also added that the latest title was particularly difficult to develop, citing that it “took a lot of time and a lot of our resources”, which explains why their post-launch schedule isn’t as laid out compared to other entries in the series.
Either way, the cancellation of the plans for a second major expansion will no doubt divide the fan community, as on one hand, this leaves room for Ubisoft to instead focus on more meaningful updates to the core experience, while on the other, players who already completed the title might not have much reason to come back without another substantial story DLC.
Still, this entirely depends on whether Ubisoft will even stick around to support Assassin’s Creed Shadows in the long run, or if it will eventually shift focus to other upcoming titles in the series, such as the much-hinted Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake, which will supposedly release in 2026, or its next major entry, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Joey Leong
