Ubisoft says the wait for Assassin's Creed Shadows was longer than Valhalla because the team gave itself the time to iterate and ensure an accurate depiction of feudal Japan.
At three years, Assassin's Creed Valhalla was one of the series biggest games, in terms of development time, but Shadows has outgrown that by a full year. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lead producer Karl Onnée explains that you could put together an Assassin's Creed game quicker than the team managed to do with Shadows, but that wouldn't necessarily lead to a great game.
