Ubisoft Urges Comparison of Assassin's Creed Shadows to Origins, Odyssey, Mirage, Not Valhalla

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Ubisoft Urges Comparison of Assassin's Creed Shadows to Origins, Odyssey, Mirage, Not Valhalla

Apr 27,25

The launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows comes with significant expectations for Ubisoft, especially following a series of delays and the disappointing sales of last year's Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft has faced numerous challenges in recent times, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations. These setbacks have put the company under intense scrutiny, and the performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows is being closely monitored worldwide.

The situation at Ubisoft has become so dire that the founding Guillemot family is reportedly exploring talks with Chinese mega-corp Tencent and other investors about a buyout deal. This move aims to retain control over the company's intellectual property, highlighting the critical nature of Assassin's Creed Shadows' success.

While Ubisoft has not yet released specific sales figures, it announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows reached 2 million players within just two days of its launch, surpassing the initial performance of Origins and Odyssey. The gaming community is also keeping a close eye on the game's concurrent player numbers on Steam, which hit a peak of 64,825 over the weekend. This makes Shadows the most-played Assassin's Creed game ever on Steam, although it's the first in the series to launch directly on the platform. For comparison, Dragon Age: The Veilguard peaked at 89,418 players on Steam.

Understanding whether Shadows meets, exceeds, or falls short of Ubisoft's expectations is challenging without knowing the company's specific goals. However, insights from an internal email reviewed by IGN provide a clearer picture of the game's initial performance. Shadows achieved the second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise's history, only behind Valhalla, which benefited from the unique conditions of the 2020 pandemic and the launch of new console generations.

Shadows also set a record for Ubisoft with its day-one launch on the PlayStation Store, indicating strong performance on the PS5. On PC, 27% of the game's activations came from this platform, with Steam playing a significant role in its success. Ubisoft has emphasized that early results validate their decision to return to Steam.

Ubisoft is also highlighting player engagement, which is at "record levels," and feedback from moderated and verified platforms, which remains overwhelmingly positive. Shadows was the most-wishlisted Ubisoft game ever and is outperforming all previous Assassin's Creed titles on Twitch, including Valhalla.

In internal communications, Ubisoft acknowledges that Shadows isn't performing as well as Valhalla did at launch but argues that comparing the two is unfair due to the unique circumstances surrounding Valhalla's release during the global pandemic and new console launches. Instead, Ubisoft suggests comparing Shadows to games like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage, which were released under more typical conditions. By these standards, Shadows is setting a new benchmark for the franchise.

Shadows was released in March, deviating from the traditional launch window just before U.S. Thanksgiving, which typically boosts sales. Additionally, Ubisoft did not offer an early access period for Shadows and introduced its subscription service directly on Xbox, factors that could influence sales comparisons.

Ultimately, the financial performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows will be crucial not only for the game's success but for Ubisoft's future. We'll likely get a clearer picture of this when Ubisoft releases its next financial report in the coming months.

For those exploring the world of feudal Japan in Assassin's Creed Shadows, be sure to check out our comprehensive guide, including our Assassin's Creed Shadows walkthrough, our detailed Assassin's Creed Shadows Interactive Map, and our guide to all the crucial things Assassin’s Creed Shadows doesn’t tell you.