As a games journalist, lots of games coming out is generally considered a good thing. It gives me lots of things to write about, gives you lots of things to search for in order to read said things, and since enjoying playing video games is the only reason anyone would want to do this career, the fact it offers up plenty of new experienc♑es to play is also a major positive. But February 2025 has reached critical mass, and there are officially too many games.

If everything holds, February 2025 will see the release of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Monster Hunter Wilds, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin's Creed Shadows, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in﷽ Hawaii, Avowed, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Civilization 7, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. That's too many games in what is usually a lighter month. But the headline is not entirely speculative here - there is a reason why so many games have chosen February, and they now have nowhere else left to go. They have to gamble that they w🔯ill win the royal rumble, and some of them will lose badly.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Didn't Have Much Choice

Naoe from Assassin's Creed Shadows dirty and bloody sat on the floor

For most of us, the year runs from January 1 to December 31. For the businesses of the world, things are not so simple. Each company has their own fiscal year that begins in different months each time. For Ubisoft, it runs April to March. That means when Shadows wasn't ready for its original September release date, it needed to find a new date before March. October and November weren't enough time, last year's Avatar will have scared Ubisoft off D𒁃ecember, January is typically a graveyard, and March is cutting it too fine to recoup sales. So, February it is.

Ubisoft chose February with its eyes open - it was already stacked before Shadows joined the party. But it was the only month it could have feasibly picked, which leaves it in a tough spot. Despite brand recognition, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin's Creed name no longer sells itself. While some will point to the generaꦦl swirling controversy around Yasuke in the ga✅me, the truth is AC has burned a lot of goodwill with gamers in ways 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Monster Hunter and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like a Dragon, both series𒉰 seeing a consistent increase in popularity, have not.

Th🌳is puts Shadows in a tough spot. Ubisoft needs this game to succeed, and if it fails I have no idea what lessons will be learned or what decisions will be made. Ubisoft has not shown much foresight in recent years, barrelling forward with outdated ideas and wondering why they flop. This from the company who once famously built a game around the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. February is the worst time to launch Shadows, but also the only possible time to do it.

Shadows’ failure, if it happens, will undoubtedly be blamed on Yasuke by the loudest stew stirrers in gaming, but Assassin’s Creed has been ailing for a while. Though 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ubisoft’s contradictory reaction to the blow♛back won’t have helped, the game does not rest on Yasuke alone.

Avowed Did, And Chose February Anyway

character using magic in avowed.
via Obsidian

The other game that draws my attention here is Avowed. Like Shadows, it was delayed into February rather than choosing it more freely. However, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Microsoft's fiscal year runs July to June, so it seems like its back isn’t agai𒁏nst the wall as much. Then again, Xbox does not appear to have sympathy of the wider audience and even its hardcore fans seem disgruntled. Another delay would be a short term headache, but it could save a longer lasting los💃s.

There are a lot of complicated financial factors in play with quarterly reports, shareholder expectations, and the general fact that Xbox is fighti♓ng against the current and sel🔯ling off exclusives and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:contorting its G🐠ame Pass strategyꦕ to catch up. While a little less black and white than Ubisoft needing a solid triple-A hit this year after 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars Outlaws and several other games underperformed, maybe Avowed has no choice beyond February꧃ either. It's certainly tough to see why Xbox would pitch its new IP (technically a Pillars of Eternity spin-off, but that’s not a franchise name) against so many established names𓆉.

It may be that in-house analysts point to Feburary being the best window, but thatꦯ could be overlooking that 2025 is not a typical February

I'm not really concerned about Monster Hunter or Like a Dragon because I think they will find their audience. I suspect there is considerable crossover betᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚween Civ and Kingdom Come fans (there certainly is at TheGamer) which makes their Barbenheimer release of Feb 11 feel risky in its own way, but I don't think the February congestion otherwise impacts them. Avowed or Shadows could spring a surprise too, there's definitely a large enough audience interested in them. But it's hard to see every major game in February being a smash hit - there just aren't enough gamers to go around.

Lost Records I feel a little sorry for - if it really did move to avoid 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Life is Strange: Double Exposure (and I suspect that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:may have been a bit of an excuse for a game struggling for traction), then it has jumped out of the very cold frying pan of competing with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the lowest rated Life is Strange yet to leap into the fire of triple-A giants. While there is no obvious crossover between Lost Records and other games here, the other games pull massive audiences and some wi♏ll choose to delay or forgo Lost Records in order to ride a shinier hype train.

February could be the most crowded month of the year, and while perhaps not great for wallets, it is nice for gamers on an individual level to have so many games to choose from. But for the games themselves, it adds a layer of competition that all of them could do without, and it will be fascinating to see who comes through unscathed, and who falls in tℱhis clash of the titans.

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Your Rating

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Avowed
Action RPG
Adventure
RPG
Systems
3.0/5
Top Critic Avg: 80/100 Critics Rec: 83%
Released
February 18, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood a🍌nd Gore, Strong Language, Violence
Engine
Unreal Engine 5

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
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Your Rating

Assassin's Creed Shadows
Action
Stealth
RPG
Systems
14
8.5/10
Top Critic Avg: 81/100 Critics Rec: 82%
Released
March 20, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood 🗹and Gore, Intense🌳 Violence, Language
Developer(s)
Ubisoft Quebec 𓆉
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Engine
AnvilNext

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL