@ubi-milky I hope it is okay for me to re-open this ticket again...
Although I had previously gotten the game to work by re-installing Ubisoft Connect, when I go back now and try to continue playing,
I again am having the same problem that I had before; the game just hangs on that first loading screen, and never progresses.

This time I tried deleting the cache as you recommended, but that did not affect the issue.

well, okay, I simply re-installed Ubisoft Connect, right over the top of the existing copy, and now it loads just fine.
I don't understand this, but it works, so I'll just do that from now on, when this issue recurs...

@ubi-milky
it runs... It Runs.... IIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT RRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
HAH!!! Step 3 worked!! Uninstall/reinstall Ubisoft software was what I needed, not the game software...

ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou !!!!

ahhhh... all is good...

Thank you very much, Master ubi-milky !!
May you have a joyful and colorful year!!!!

@ubi-milky Hi!! Thank ye for the prompt response!!
Okay, here's my initial results:

1. for your item 1, I do *not* see a DOWNLOAD tab, I just see PLAY... I *did* see DOWNLOAD when I went to re-install today, and that other link was below it, but I just re-installed.
2. For item 2, about clearing cache, I get "404 - page not found" ...

Other notes: I also saw a page that recommended disabling programs such as MSI Afterburner, so I tried disabling anti-virus *and* MSI Afterburner, but these changes did not effect this issue in any way.

I am now trying your third solution, to reinstall the Ubisoft software...

Update: After waiting a day to get no help with this, I uninstalled the game, completely deleted all references to the game in various folders, then reinstalled, and disabled both antivirus and MSI Afterburner before running it, but I get the exact same issue...
Game logo displays, with a spinning circle in lower-right corner, but nothing else every happens...

@jwevans27 Did you ever get any solution to this issue?? I'm facing it now, but finding nothing useful...

I got this through Epic; played for awhile (1d 14h per Epic's data), then uninstalled it.
This was a few months back.

Now I went back and re-installed it, ran first time and Ubisoft downloaded a large update to the game, then displayed "Play",
but when I click Play, it opens the AC:V logo screen, initializes, then just sits there with a spinning circle, essentially forever (actually, I only left it spinning for 20 minutes, but that should be sufficient).

I tried the following fixes with no effect:

1. put Ubisoft offline
2. ran Verify Files; all verified fine.

Is there a fix for this??

My system:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, all drivers/files updated
NVidia GTX 1070 Ti, current drivers
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X
Install disk: Samsung 980 Pro, PCIe4 NVMe interface, plenty of free disk available
32GB DRAM, 18GB free

I got this through Epic; played for awhile (1d 14h per Epic's data), then uninstalled it.
This was a few months back.

Now I went back and re-installed it, ran first time and Ubisoft downloaded a large update to the game, then displayed "Play",
but when I click Play, it opens the AC:V logo screen, initializes, then just sits there with a spinning circle, essentially forever (actually, I only left it spinning for 20 minutes, but that should be sufficient).

I tried the following fixes with no effect:

1. put Ubisoft offline
2. ran Verify Files; all verified fine.

Is there a fix for this??

My system:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, all drivers/files updated
NVidia GTX 1070 Ti, current drivers
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X
Install disk: Samsung 980 Pro, PCIe4 NVMe interface, plenty of free disk available
32GB DRAM, 18GB free