Assassin’s Creed Shadows Mentioned to Be Series’ Second Biggest Launch Ever

Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched final week and had a formidable first weekend as over two million gamers flocked to the sport throughout PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Ubisoft confirmed Saturday that the action-RPG had surpassed the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey. While the corporate has not made preliminary gross sales figures public but, two separate reviews have claimed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the collection’ second largest launch ever, behind solely 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Becomes Series’ Second Biggest Launch

The newest Assassin’s Creed recreation is alleged to have generated the second-highest day-one gross sales income for the franchise. The data comes from two separate reviews from VGC and IGN that cite Ubisoft sources and an inside e-mail discussing the sport’s gross sales efficiency. Shadows’ launch-day gross sales efficiency is second solely to Valhalla within the collection, which stays the highest-selling Assassin’s Creed recreation of all time.

It’s additionally price noting that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla arrived on the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic when nations the world over had applied lockdown guidelines, leading to extra individuals staying at dwelling and taking part in video video games. The recreation’s gross sales additionally benefitted from a cross-gen launch on consoles.

Ubisoft, too, recognises as a lot; As per IGN’s report, the corporate considers Valhalla’s distinctive gross sales efficiency a results of beneficial circumstances, and as such, intends to match Shadows to the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey.

“Valhalla launched under extraordinary conditions — in the middle of a global pandemic, with widespread lockdowns and brand-new console hardware,” the report stated, quoting Ubisoft’s inside communications. “It was a perfect storm we may never see again. That’s why it’s more meaningful to compare Shadows to entries like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage — games released in more typical cycles. And in that frame, Shadows is already setting a new bar as illustrated above.”

Steam Launch Benifits Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Further, the corporate’s gross sales knowledge, as reported by each publications, additionally claims that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is Ubisoft’s greatest day-one launch on the PlayStation Store. The recreation has discovered a large participant base on PC, as nicely, particularly as a result of its day-one launch on Steam. According to Ubisoft, 27 % of the sport’s whole “activations” got here on PC, with Steam taking part in a “significant role.”

Ubisoft, nonetheless, has not but shared gross sales figures for Shadows, though it has cited sturdy participant engagement in its communications, each inside and public. The firm stated over the weekend that the sport had crossed over two million gamers. This quantity, nonetheless, contains Ubisoft+ members who had been in a position to entry the sport with out shopping for a replica.

According to SteamDB charts, the Japan-set action-RPG has seen an all-time peak concurrent participant depend of 64,825 on the time of writing, a quantity that would rise within the coming days. The gross sales efficiency of Assassin’s Creed Shadows ought to turn into clearer in time, particularly when Ubisoft reviews its quarterly monetary outcomes.

The French firm has been banking on the sport to ship a success after back-to-back disappointments with the launches of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft’s inventory worth has taken a beating over the previous 12 months, falling 40 % in 2024 and pushing the corporate’s founding Guillemot household to discover talks with Tencent and different buyers over a buyout deal.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched on March 20 after a being delayed twice from its unique launch date of November 15, 2024. Ubisoft stated it utilised the extra growth time to additional polish the sport and incorporate participant suggestions.