The Assassin’s Creed Shadows review embargo was reported to lift on March 18, 2025, two days before the game’s March 20, 2025 release. The European Video Games Observatory later recorded the lift time as 6 p.m. UTC (18:00 UTC) that day. Ubisoft did not publish the embargo itself; the date came from Insider Gaming’s reporting, and the hour comes from a later retrospective chronology.
The embargo date and where it comes from
Insider Gaming reported on March 18, 2025 that reviews would go live that day, citing its own sources. The outlet described the date as reportedly set and said it had learned it through its reporting. Treat it as a reported date rather than an official Ubisoft announcement, because Ubisoft’s store page confirms the release date but does not mention a review embargo. You can read the original report at Insider Gaming’s embargo article.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows - Limited Edition (Amazon Exclusive), PlayStation 5 | $61.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
![Assassin's Creed Shadows [PlayStation 5]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51cgBmgsqGL._SL160_.jpg)
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Assassin's Creed Shadows [PlayStation 5] | $34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Art of Assassin's Creed Shadows | $29.69 | Buy on Amazon |
The exact lift time
Insider Gaming’s article gives the day but not the hour. The hour appears in the European Video Games Observatory’s March 2025 report on review bombing and review aggregators for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Under the heading “Chronology of key review production dates (UTC),” the report states:
“March 18: first reviews published on March 18, after the 6 p.m. embargo was lifted.”
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Because the chronology is labelled UTC, the lift time is 18:00 UTC. The report is retrospective, so it documents when reviews were published rather than announcing the embargo in advance. The full report is available as a European Video Games Observatory PDF.
What 18:00 UTC means in common time zones
The conversions below apply the UTC offsets in force on March 18, 2025, before the spring daylight-saving changes in the US (March 9) and the UK and EU (March 30).
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| Location | Local time on March 18, 2025 |
|---|---|
| London (GMT) | 6:00 p.m. |
| Paris / Berlin (CET) | 7:00 p.m. |
| New York (EDT) | 2:00 p.m. |
| Los Angeles (PDT) | 11:00 a.m. |
| Tokyo (JST) | 3:00 a.m. on March 19 |
Release date and why the gap matters
Ubisoft’s US store lists Assassin’s Creed Shadows Standard Edition with a release date of March 20, 2025, and identifies the game as the subject of the page. Windows Central’s review page also records the March 20 release and the PS5 platform, but it does not establish the embargo hour. See the Ubisoft store listing and the Windows Central review page for those details.
The two-day gap meant reviews were public before launch, so readers who wanted a critical verdict could read them before buying. Insider Gaming described March 18 as two days before the planned release, which matches the store date.
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Quick answer for citation
- Embargo date (reported): March 18, 2025, per Insider Gaming.
- Lift time (retrospective): 6 p.m. UTC, per the European Video Games Observatory’s March 2025 chronology.
- Release date (official store listing): March 20, 2025.
The embargo was reported and documented after the fact, so attribute it to the sources above rather than to a Ubisoft statement.
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