Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed Shadows surpassed 1 million players on its launch day, March 20. The game, available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, reached this milestone before 4pm in Canada. Ubisoft expressed gratitude to the players, stating, "It's not even 4pm here in Canada and Assassin's Creed Shadows has already passed 1 million players! Thank YOU from the bottom of our hearts for joining this adventure in Feudal Japan. We are beyond excited to start this journey with you!”
While hitting 1 million players on launch day is impressive, it's challenging to fully assess the game's success without sales figures or targets from Ubisoft. However, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is currently the top-selling video game on Steam globally, indicating strong revenue generation. On launch day, it achieved a peak concurrent player count of 41,412 on Steam, with expectations of growth over the weekend. For comparison, BioWare’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, released on October 31, 2024, peaked at 70,414 players on the same platform.
Assassin's Creed Shadows faces significant pressure to perform well globally, especially following delays and the underperformance of last year’s Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft has encountered several setbacks, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations leading up to this release. Additionally, the game has stirred controversy, particularly in Japan, where a day-one patch addressed concerns from politicians about in-game depictions of temples and shrines. This issue was even discussed in an official Japanese government meeting between politician Hiroyuki Kada and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
On Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows has received a 'very positive' user review rating, with 82% of nearly 4,000 reviews being positive. IGN’s review gave the game an 8/10, praising it for refining its open-world mechanics and delivering one of the best iterations in the series. Amidst these developments, Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family and largest shareholder are reportedly exploring a buyout deal with Tencent and other investors to maintain control of the company.
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