Ubisoft has detailed the exact moment you’ll be able to begin pre-loading and then playing the long-awaited Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The twice-delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows is finally set to arrive on 20th March, in just 15 days. Ahead of then, pre-loading is available right now on Xbox Series X/S – where it weighs in at 107.77GB.
If you’re playing on PC, pre-loading will begin on 17th March at 4pm UK time worldwide. Lastly, on PlayStation 5, pre-loading will become available on 18th March at midnight local time.
When the clock strikes midnight on 20th March here in the UK, the console version of the game will become available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The PC version unlocks two hours earlier on PC via Ubisoft Connect (that’s 10pm on the 19th March) or slightly later at 4am on the 20th if you’re on Steam.

Xbox fans discussing the launch timings over on reddit have spotted that the game – as with many – will be available first to those in New Zealand. Do with that information what you will.
And finally today, comments made by Ubisoft surrounding the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows for Steam Deck have been doing the rounds. The publisher noted last month that the game won’t initially be compatible with Valve’s handheld due it being below the game’s minimum specs – although did not rule out this changing in future.
“At launch, the game will not be compatible with Steam Deck,” Ubisoft said, “due to the fact it is below our minimum specs for PC.”
Our Katharine recently went hands-on with the game for six hours, and said Assassin’s Creed Shadows was “the biggest shake-up of the series in years”.