Ubisoft reveals Assassin's Creed Shadows preload and unlock times

In what I think we can all take as final confirmation that Assassin's Creed Shadows is not going to be hit with one more super-last-second delay, Ubisoft has revealed a somewhat complicated rundown of the game's global preload and unlock times.

The preload times are simple enough: If you're on Xbox Series X/S, you can be preloading right now if you really want to get ahead of the crowd, while those of us on PC can start the ball rolling at 4 pm UTC (8 am PT/11 am ET) on March 17, three days ahead of the March 20 launch date. The PS5 crowd will have to wait just a wee little bit longer, until 12 am local time on March 18.

There's a bit more variation in the unlock times. Console versions of Assassin's Creed Shadows are set to unlock at midnight local time, while the Steam versions will pop simultaneously around the world—that is, 9 pm PT on March 19 (three hours ahead of the console launch), which works out to 12 am ET on March 20 (simultaneous with the console launch), 5 am CET (five hours after the console versions unlock), and so forth.

Unless you're getting the PC edition directly from Ubisoft, that is. In that case, you'll have access to Assassin's Creed Shadows at the same time as the Steam release in the Americas, but six hours earlier in Europe and four hours earlier in Asia and Australia. Ubisoft is French, which I assume plays some role in that particular little twist.

If I'm reading the map right, that is. It's complicated.

Note that unlike a lot of big game launches, Assassin's Creed Shadows will not have any kind of "early unlock" for people who preorder or shell out for a collector's edition. A three-day early access period was originally planned, but Ubisoft scrapped the idea when it delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows into 2025.

Assassin's Creed Shadows: All our coverage
AC Shadows Preview: Our hands on thoughts
AC Shadows system requirements: PC specs list
2025 games: This year's upcoming releases