In the case of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the French publisher is trying not to write it off too early.

Franchise head Marc-Alexis Coté spoke at a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) event about the state of Assassin’s Creed and how Ubisoft’s last big release, Star Wars Outlaws, was underwhelming. We also talked about how the Assassin’s Creed Shadows scandal has affected Ubisoft.

The publisher is one of the biggest AAA publishers, but the events of the last year or so and the poor performance (although Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown got excellent reviews!) have left Ubisoft in a justifiably worried position in front of fans and investors. Star Wars Outlaws also got off to a bad start due to bugs, a large first-day patch, and a lot of criticism (repetitive gameplay, content behind a paywall).

Coté says Ubisoft needs to change the narrative around its major franchises. Gamers have much higher expectations these days. There’s a lot more variety, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows will help the publisher deliver a product that appeals to the tastes of its audience, he says. This game is seen by the company as a resurrection of the franchise, and the last-minute postponement was due to fan feedback and the poor results of Star Wars Outlaws.

Coté believes that the opinions of the playtesters indicate that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has great potential, but they need more time to release a properly polished game, while their financial situation is not impressive. He pointed to the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity in 2014, which was riddled with technical bugs and glitches that left it far from the expected performance. It was later improved by major patches, the initial reception was poor, and Coté says that the game still influences the way Ubisoft develops games.

We’ll see if their plan works.

Source: GameRant, Eurogamer