Assassin's Creed: Unity criticized for widespread glitches

Wide-ranging glitches in the blockbuster video game Assassin's Creed: Unity have seen its publisher Ubisoft attacked by players, the press and its own investors, the BBC reports.

Shares in the firm dipped by as much as 12.8% after Tuesday's launch.

It has been suggested the game was not ready for release. Ubisoft has also been criticised for delaying reviews until after the title had gone on sale.

The French company said that it was working on fixes.

"We are currently working on our next update that will help address some of the specific issues some players are having including: [the protagonist] Arno falling through the ground; game crashing when joining a co-op session; Arno getting caught inside of hay carts; delay in reaching the main menu screen at game start," it said.

In a further statement, Ubisoft added that the complexity of creating a multiplayer title, in which players join forces via the internet, was the reason that the game had only became available for review relatively late in the day.

However, it did not explicitly address the point that it had made reviewers agree to an embargo time set 17 hours after the game went on sale in the UK.

Consumers have posted screenshots and videos online, indicating that problems affect all the platforms the game has been released on: the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

"The glitches are so bad that it's become a source of mockery," said Rob Crossley, UK news editor of Gamespot.

"There are characters that float past the screen, the main protagonist walks in the air, people are falling through the floor, people's faces are disappearing mid-kiss.

"If a publisher has proven it can't publish a game properly and displeases its core user base, then I think there are legitimate questions to be made about how well the company will fare in the future."