Following Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s reveal last week, Ubisoft began teasing plans to showcase a gameplay trailer during Inside Xbox. Across multiple twitter posts, Ubisoft and Microsoft emphasized that fans would see gameplay. However, once the trailer went live, it became clear Ubisoft should’ve set expectations accordingly. There’s an ongoing debate as to whether what was shown actually counts as gameplay. The disappointment of many AC fans is most evident in the trailer’s like to dislike ratio on YouTube. As of writing, the ratio reads as 19,000 likes to 32,000 dislikes for a video with over 760,000 views. Creative Director Ashraf Ismail recently addressed the backlash on Twitter.
See the Creative Director’s message to fans in the tweet linked below:
Hello all
You rightfully expected to see more today. We have a long marketing campaign ahead of us, you will see in-depth gameplay and get a lot more info about the game.
Thank you for your excitement and passion! Be patient with us and be kind. It will be worth it!
— Ashraf Ismail (@AshrafAIsmail) May 7, 2020
To be fair, the day before Inside Xbox, Ismail noted the reveal would simply serve as a “teaser trailer.” Thus, there was never a longer gameplay demo planned for Microsoft’s digital event. Unfortunately, Ubisoft failed to get this message across to fans on its own social media platforms. Had the publisher been far more transparent in this regard, perhaps the backlash would not have gotten so out of hand. Hindsight is always 20/20, though.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is slated to launch in holiday 2020 for the PS4, PS5, Google Stadia, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. At present, Ubisoft has yet to unveil a solid release date. However, a since removed retail listing reportedly suggested at least one version may hit stores on October 16th.
[Source: Ashraf Ismail on Twitter]
