Ubisoft quietly scraps Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ second big DLC — what that means for players

Ubisoft is cutting the second full-sized DLC for Assassin’s Creed Shadows – and that actually matters

This caught my attention because Ubisoft is changing a pattern that used to be predictable: Assassin’s Creed games typically shipped with two-to-three major expansions. Now, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will not get the planned second, full-sized DLC. Instead, associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois says Year Two will favor fewer, larger updates rather than another Awaji-scale expansion.

• Key takeaway 1: There will be no second full-length expansion on the scale of Claws of Awaji for Shadows.
• Key takeaway 2: Ubisoft plans “sparse” but “chunkier” updates in Year Two instead of many small drops or another paid expansion.
• Key takeaway 3: Shadows still gets post-launch content – a limited Attack on Titan mission ends Dec. 22 – and a Switch 2 port lands Dec. 2.

Breaking down the announcement

In an interview with JorRaptor (via IGN), Lemay-Comtois was blunt: “As of now, at this moment for Year Two, there is no expansion on the size of Awaji that is planned.” He added that Ubisoft isn’t abandoning support — the studio intends to deliver content — but it won’t be the traditional season-pass style expansion push. Instead, expect “more sparse, not a drip-feed… but chunkier updates that shake things up a little more.”

That’s a meaningful pivot. Recent Assassin’s Creed entries like Valhalla and Odyssey had multiple paid expansions. Ubisoft has also experimented with free expansions (Assassin’s Creed Mirage received a free add-on two years later), and Claws of Awaji itself was shifted from paid to free as a goodwill gesture after Shadows’ delay. So this change isn’t coming from nowhere — it’s part of an ongoing reevaluation of post-launch strategies.

Why this matters for players

Practically, it means you shouldn’t bank on a big, new Yasuke-and-Naoe adventure packaged and sold separately. If you liked large narrative expansions with lengthy new regions and multi-hour stories, those may be rarer going forward. Instead, Ubisoft promises fewer but meatier updates designed to pull players back without running a constant drip of content.

That approach has pros — larger updates can feel like events and can be higher quality if the team isn’t stretched across dozens of small releases. It also pairs well with the upcoming Switch 2 port on December 2, which could act as a fresh spike in player numbers when a big update drops.

Why now — and the elephant in the room

“Why now?” is the smart question. Ubisoft’s timeline hasn’t been immune to public pressure: Guillemot said Shadows was delayed after backlash over the game’s protagonist, Yasuke, and Claws of Awaji was made free to compensate for that delay. There are also lingering questions about business models — Ubisoft has defended microtransactions as a way to fund updates — so cutting a paid expansion could be read two ways: either a player-friendly pivot, or a cost-saving move that still preserves monetization elsewhere.

There’s also the odd side note: separate reporting suggested a Civil War-inspired Assassin’s Creed project was canceled for fear of controversy. Taken together, Ubisoft seems more cautious about where it spends big development resources and how it times major content releases.

What to expect next

Short term: enjoy the Attack on Titan crossover mission while you can — it’s limited and ends December 22 — and mark December 2 for the Switch 2 port if you’re a handheld player. Longer term: watch for those “chunky” updates. If Ubisoft follows through, you might get less quantity but bigger, better-polished content drops. But be skeptical: “chunky” could also mean smaller scope than a full expansion, with the rest of Ubisoft’s live-service and monetization systems still in play.

TL;DR — The real story

Ubisoft quietly pulled a planned second, large DLC for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game will still get content, but Year Two will favor fewer, larger updates rather than another full-length expansion. That’s good if those updates are substantive; it’s bad if it’s just rebranding smaller bits while keeping aggressive monetization. Keep an eye on the Switch 2 port on Dec. 2 and the limited Attack on Titan mission through Dec. 22.