The stakes are high for Ubisoft with the global release of Assassin's Creed Shadows, following the delays and disappointing sales of last year's Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft has faced a series of challenges including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations leading up to the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows. The pressure is immense, and the game's performance could have significant implications for the company.
The situation at Ubisoft has become dire enough that the founding Guillemot family is reportedly exploring talks with Chinese mega-corp Tencent and other investors to secure a buyout deal that would allow them to retain control over the company's intellectual property. This move underscores the critical nature of Assassin's Creed Shadows' success.
The gaming community is closely monitoring the early performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows to gauge its success or failure. While Ubisoft has not released specific sales figures, they announced that the game reached 2 million players within just two days of its launch, surpassing the initial performance of both Origins and Odyssey. This is a promising start, but the true measure of success will hinge on sustained sales and player engagement.
There's also significant interest in Shadows' performance on Steam, where it achieved a peak concurrent player count of 64,825 over the weekend, making it the most-played Assassin's Creed game ever on the platform. This is noteworthy as it was the first in the series to launch day-one on Steam. For context, BioWare’s single-player RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard peaked at 89,418 players on Steam.
Assessing whether Shadows meets, exceeds, or falls short of Ubisoft's expectations is challenging without knowing their specific goals. However, an internal email reviewed by IGN, sourced from within Ubisoft, sheds light on the game's first weekend performance.
According to the internal communication, Assassin's Creed Shadows generated the second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise's history, only behind 2020's Valhalla, which benefited from the unique circumstances of launching during the global pandemic and across multiple console generations. Shadows also achieved Ubisoft's best-ever day-one launch on the PlayStation Store, indicating strong performance on PS5.
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On PC, Shadows had 27% of its total "activations" via Steam and Ubisoft's own digital store. Ubisoft credits Steam with playing "a major role" in the game's PC performance, though exact sales numbers remain undisclosed. Early results are described as a "strong validation" of Ubisoft's decision to return to the Steam platform.
Ubisoft is emphasizing high player engagement, which is at "record levels," and positive feedback from verified platforms less affected by review bombing. Shadows was the most-wishlisted Ubisoft game ever and is outperforming all previous Assassin's Creed titles on Twitch, including Valhalla.
The internal communication provides context for comparing Shadows' launch to other games in the franchise. While Shadows did not match Valhalla's launch success, Ubisoft argues it's unfair to compare the two due to Valhalla's unique launch conditions during the global pandemic and the release of new console hardware. Instead, Ubisoft suggests comparing Shadows to games like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage, which were released under more typical circumstances. In this context, Shadows is setting new benchmarks.
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See your ResultsFinish playing for your personal results or see the community’s!Continue playingSee resultsUbisoft also noted that Shadows was released in March, outside the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving sales window, and without an early access period, which is typically offered at an additional cost. Additionally, Ubisoft's subscription service is now available directly on Xbox, complicating sales comparisons on Microsoft’s console.
Ultimately, the financial performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the deciding factor for both the game and Ubisoft's future. We'll need to wait for Ubisoft's next financial report to get a clearer picture of the game's impact. In the meantime, if you're diving into the world of feudal Japan with Assassin's Creed Shadows, don't miss our comprehensive guide, walkthrough, interactive map, and tips on what the game doesn't explicitly tell you.
