The upcoming Assassin’s Creed mobile game is reportedly getting delayed. In a recent report, sources told Reuters that Tencent would be pushing back Assassin’s Creed Jade’s release into 2025. This is likely due to the Chinese tech company reportedly moving the team tasked with developing Assassin’s Creed Jade to the recently released popular party game DreamStar.
Assassin’s Creed Jade is one of the many upcoming games for the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Set in ancient China, this spinoff mobile game has been in the works for over four years by the Tencent subsidiary Level Infinite alongside Ubisoft.
The game’s alleged delay is likely the consequence of Tencent’s recent change in practices when it comes to making mobile games with established IP. While Assassin’s Creed fans may have to wait until March 2025 to experience the mobile game, hopefully, Tencent pulling its development team to other projects won’t push back it’s release date even further.
In the past year, Tencent has seen a noticeable dip in earnings compared to when the lockdowns were first lifted following the pandemic. This unprecedented loss had the company, like many other game companies at the moment, reevaluate the content they make in the future.
This has led to Tencent stepping away from making games with established franchises to focus more on strengthening their own IP, largely due to the rising costs in maintaining the licenses. Already the company has axed mobile games like Apex Legends Mobile and a Nier Automata franchise game that was in development.
Tencent Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell remarked about the company’s switch on an earnings call on Wednesday.
“We’re focusing on fewer bigger budget games. Typically, we’re seeking to make the biggest bets around games that either iterate on a successful IP … or games that are iterating around proven gameplay success within a niche and taking those to a more mass market,” said Mitchell.
Additionally, when it came to Tencent’s relationship with digital content distribution platforms like Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, it’s noted that Tencent is looking to negotiate for lower Royalty Fees.
Tencent had previously stated that it was falling behind its competitors. It seems that this plan is just one of many ways to make serious catch-up.