Of Course Assassin's Creed Shadows Is Coming to Switch 2, and Of Course the "Physical" Copy Is a Fucking Scam

In the least surprising news of the month, it turns out Ubisoft wants to sell its massive new ninja game on Nintendo’s shiny new console. What a shocker.

After months of hints and accidental retail listings, we finally have confirmation from the ever-reliable leaker billbil-kun. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is indeed making its way to the Switch 2, and we even have a release date for the thing.

The Leaks Were Right All Along

This hasn’t exactly been a well-kept secret. First, the European PEGI rating board quietly added a Switch 2 classification to the game's official page. Then, French retailer Auchan just went ahead and accidentally published the entire product page, complete with box art.

It's the modern equivalent of shouting a secret into a megaphone. The only things we were missing were a date and a price. Now we have those, too.

Mark Your Calendars for More Plastic

According to the leak, the "physical" version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will hit the Switch 2 on December 5, 2025, with pre-orders expected to go live around November 7th. The price is hovering around a very reasonable €50.

I put "physical" in quotes because this is where the scam comes in. The box art clearly states "Game key card," which is corporate doublespeak for "You're buying an empty case with a download code inside." It’s a useless piece of plastic designed to take up shelf space while still forcing you to download the entire game.

It’s a trend that needs to die a swift and painful death, but here we are. It’s a shame, because getting a big, third-party title like this on a new Nintendo console is always a good sign for the platform's future, as we've speculated before on the Switch 2's third-party support.

So, if you’ve been holding out for a portable trip to feudal Japan, your wait is almost over. Just be prepared for the hollow, unsatisfying feeling of opening a game box that contains nothing but a slip of paper.