Assassin's Creed Shadows release date: Launch time countdown, preloads, and when it comes out in your time zone

Ubisoft — the developer and publisher behind games like Rainbow Six Siege, Far Cry, Star Wars Outlaws, and more — has struggled in recent years, with many of the studio's projects underperforming financially or failing to hold public interest for long. The firm is working to try and turn its fortune, though, and one of the biggest new releases it's banking on is Assassin's Creed Shadows.

The latest entry in Ubisoft's legendary Assassin's Creed franchise is arguably its most ambitious ever, with the open-world RPG notably earning high praise from critics and content creators. My colleague Zachary Boddy hasn't finished it yet, but they've also spoken highly of the experience in their review-in-progress, calling it "a visually stunning action-RPG adventure with varied, endlessly fun gameplay backed by serious attention to detail."

Going into its launch period, interest in Shadows appears to be quite high — and that means there are lots of gamers trying to figure out when they'll be able to jump into the game. Thankfully, full details for the Assassin's Creed Shadows release date and launch times have been provided ahead of its arrival, so I've compiled all of that information below. Read on for everything you need to know, including release timing, preloading information, and more.

What is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Story Trailer - YouTube

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You'll have an idea of what to expect from Assassin's Creed Shadows if you've played a game from the franchise before. If you haven't, though, give this section a read.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is the latest open-world action RPG in the series from Ubisoft, with the new release following up on 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage. From a gameplay standpoint, Shadows can be seen as a successor to both Mirage and 2020's Valhalla, as it gives players the option to lean more towards stealth like the former did or go all-in on action combat like the latter title.

This is achieved by giving the player two characters to embody as they adventure through the chaotic war-torn lands of Sengoku-era Japan: the legendary samurai and historical figure Yasuke and a lethal and covert shinobi named Naoe. Each protagonist has their own stories and side adventures to experience, with the two connected by an overarching narrative.

After a rather lengthy opening chapter with Naoe, players will gain the ability to swap between the two characters freely. As you'd expect, Yasuke is ideal for fighting head on and opts for direct strength over more clandestine approaches, while Naoe is for those who wish to skulk in the shadows to avoid detection and execute well-planned assassinations. Both wield a variety of different weapons and tools to achieve victory, and players can tweak and customize both extensively.

The open world of Shadows is also worth touching on, as it's reportedly more engaging and dynamic than previous settings in the series. I can't speak much on this since I haven't played the game yet, but in general, Ubisoft has made an effort to avoid bloating the experience with an icon-riddled map and has instead tried to craft more interesting and unique secrets for fans to discover on their journey.

When it launches, Assassin's Creed Shadows will be available to play on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5, with the game officially retailing for $69.99 on all of its platforms. However, you can get the Xbox and PC versions for discounts at CDKeys (check out the links below); alternatively, you can also play the game on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC through a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription.

Assassin's Creed Shadows

The latest mainline entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise and the most ambitious yet, AC Shadows sets to restore faith in Ubisoft with an all-new story set in feudal Japan. It's beautiful and fun, and may truly mark a return to form for Ubisoft.

Standard Edition (Digital): $53.29 at CDKeys (PC, Ubisoft Connect) | CDKeys (Xbox) | Best Buy (Xbox) | Amazon (Xbox) | Ubisoft Connect (PC)
Deluxe Edition (Digital): $89.99 at CDKeys (Xbox) | Best Buy (Xbox) | Amazon (Xbox) | Ubisoft Connect (PC)
Standard Edition (Physical): $69.99 at Best Buy (Xbox) | Amazon (Xbox)

Assassin's Creed Shadows release date and launch times

If you're reading this, I have good news for you: you'll be able to play Assassin's Creed Shadows in under 24 hours, and there's a decent chance that the game may actually be out already. That's because Assassin's Creed Shadows' is scheduled to release on March 20, 2025 — tomorrow, at the time of writing. The earliest time it will be playable is March 19 at 8:00 p.m. in China on Windows PC.

Some important things to mention are that Shadows is slated to go live at varying times on PC, while on consoles, it comes out at midnight in your local time zone. In other words, the time of day you can play at will be different depending on the time zone you're in — you may even get to play on the evening of March 19 — and within your region, you might get access a little sooner (or later) than someone else with a different system will.

It's all a little complicated, but for a complete look at when you can play Assassin's Creed Shadows in your time zone and on your platform, you can either check out the official graphic above or the table below; the latter includes all of the relevant information from the former.

Assassin's Creed Shadows launch countdown

This clock will count down to midnight on March 20 in the US Pacific time zone, at which point Assassin's Creed Shadows should be available in most regions on most platforms. For the specific launch times relevant to your area, make sure to refer to the section above.

When can you preload Assassin's Creed Shadows?

With games getting bigger and bigger over time, it's become increasingly valuable for developers to offer preloading — a feature that lets you install games ahead of their launches. By doing this, you don't have to spend time downloading them once they're out, and can jump right into playing (as long as there's not a day one patch, anyway).

Most AAA games like Assassin's Creed Shadows support preloading, as does Shadows itself — and preloads for the game are now live on all platforms. That means you can start installing the open-world RPG as soon as you've preordered it, so get that download moving ASAP.

Assassin's Creed Shadows download size: How big is it?

Assassin's Creed Shadows isn't the largest game I've ever seen, but make no mistake — it's still going to take up plenty of space on your hard drive. Across its platforms, the game's installation size is roughly ~115GB, so there's a good chance you'll need to clear out some space if the drive you're using has a lot of games on it already. You'll also need an SSD, as older and slower hard-disk drives won't cut it for Ubisoft's latest title.

One way to get space would be to simply uninstall things you haven't played in a while, though you may also want to upgrade your console or PC rig with one of the best SSDs so you don't have to worry about your storage anymore. With how relatively affordable drives can be, these days, I definitely recommend the latter.

Looking for a new open-world RPG to play? One of the best Xbox games and best PC games of 2025 for you will likely end up being Assassin's Creed Shadows. The game is scheduled to go live on March 20 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5.