Will Assassin’s Creed Shadows Have Co-Op?
Image Credit: Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Shadows
When Ubisoft revealed Assassin’s Creed Shadows, fans immediately had one question: Can we finally play co-op again? With two playable characters, Naoe and Yasuke, it screams co-op potential. But so far, Assassin’s Creed has stayed mostly single-player—aside from that time Unity tried to make co-op work and… well, let’s just say it was “memorable.”
So, will Shadows have co-op at launch or later? Here’s the current answer—straight from the devs.
What the Developers Said About Co-Op (Spoiler: It’s Complicated)
Creative director Jonathan Dumont recently explained that while Shadows is built around dual protagonists, the focus is single-player only at launch.
“We’ve talked about it [co-op], but Shadows is already ambitious. It’s not out of the question for the future, but right now, we’re focusing on a single-player experience.”
In short: they thought about co-op. They talked about co-op. Then they chose to not do co-op—yet.
Why No Co-Op (Yet)?
According to game director Charles Benoit, adding co-op isn’t just a matter of “put another player in.” It means reworking the whole game to support multiplayer, and the team didn’t want to compromise the graphics or gameplay.
“It screams co-op when we see two protagonists, but making multiplayer work is a whole different game. We wanted to focus on gameplay and not compromise.”
Translation: “Co-op sounds cool, but we don’t want it to break the game—or look ugly.”
Is Co-Op Totally Dead?
Not really. Ubisoft usually supports Assassin’s Creed games for a year or more after launch with DLCs and updates. So even though co-op won’t be there day one, the devs didn’t rule it out for a future update—or even the next Assassin’s Creed.
Final Blurb
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will launch without co-op, despite the perfect setup for it. The devs aren’t saying “never,” but for now, it’s just you, Naoe, Yasuke, and a whole lot of single-player samurai action. Co-op might arrive later—but don’t hold your breath. Or your hidden blade.
