
Assassin's Creed Shadows seems to have done rather well for itself, according to a new report from the reliable Andy Robinson of VGC.
It's claimed that, according to sales data that's yet to be made public, Shadows has managed the second biggest launch in Assassin's Creed history, trailing only 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Valhalla had a few notable advantages over Shadows, too. It was cross-gen, it released in November instead of March (just in time for the holidays), and it launched just as the covid pandemic was forcing the western world into lockdown. Valhalla went on to become Ubisoft's most profitable game ever.
By the way, this report is apparently based on day one sales revenue, so it's a more concrete indicator of how well the title's doing over player numbers and the like.
Interestingly, the report states that Shadows immediately set a new record for Ubisoft on the PS Store, being its "best-ever day one launch" on Sony's digital marketplace. And while digital sales have been increasing year-on-year for almost two whole console generations now, that's still an impressive win when you consider all of the AAA titles the publisher's pumped out on PS5 and PS4.
We would assume that Ubisoft will relay much of this data through its official channels in the near future. After all, the embattled company has a serious need to showcase positive growth in its upcoming financials, as the fiscal year draws to a close. We should get something resembling sales numbers then, too.
Did you expect Assassin's Creed Shadows to surpass most of its predecessors? Give our Assassin's Creed Shadows guide a look if you like, and then reveal your hidden blade in the comments section below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 119
Great stuff, im loving it 👍
Even more than that I’ll say Sony and GoT have a lot to do with this particular setting being so well received. Same as when God of war had everyone doing Norse mythology
Happy to hear it!
Hopefully people can start liking AC and Ubisoft again without internet persecution!
I’m enjoying the mental gymnastics of the idiots determined to see it fail.
When did gamers start wanting games to fail? Or perhaps more accurately are you actually a real gamer if you want them to?
Hell yeah, knew it would do well.
Im happy ubi are getting a commercial win, god knows they needed it
The peak player count on steam is worse than even Veilguard. It's obvious that this is just Ubisoft trying to look strong. They even used 'players' instead of sales. Yikes.
That's great!! A sad day for the grifters and hate mob of youtube!!
No, I didn't expect it.
Still won't buy it, because I loved AC series because of alien artifacts, assassins versus templars, present day story and one huge world mystery. This all is gone almost completely.
@heavyartillery56
Really happy to see Ubi bounce back, the hate was getting old and they are responsible for so many of my favorite games. I'm looking forward to seeing what spinoff novels show up following the release, those are always fun.
@ShogunRok Would you really rather we all just pretend that everything is fine even when it's obviously not? You are a journalist so if anything you should be even more aware of what a bad situation Ubisoft is in right now.
@heavyartillery56
Did you even read the article? These numbers aren't coming from Ubisoft. They are coming from Andy Robinson at VGC.
Come on man.
@heavyartillery56 the reason for @ShogunRok’s head-in-hands Picard gif was due to the article specifically referring to sales rather than player numbers 😏
@Korgon Jason Schreier was quick to gloat about Veilguard reaching the top of the sales charts when it launched while the game was a complete flop. I get that you don't like the internet discourse surrounding the game, but be reasonable.
@freddquadros I know seriously YouTube is full of grifters these days, complaining about games tv shows or movies it’s kinda pathetic imo.
@heavyartillery56
@graymamba Sales? According to Steam the game sold less than Veilguard. Games like Shadows and Veilguard can't sell that poorly and make enough money back. Especially considering that Ubisoft had a ton of flops recently. And the delayed Shadows a bunch just like Veilguard. That increases the budget even more.
By the way, this report is apparently based on day one sales revenue, so it's a more concrete indicator of how well the title's doing over player numbers and the like.
Il just leave this here for certain people 😅.
@heavyartillery56
@UltimateOtaku91 For who? Ubisoft shareholders? They already know how screwed they are. Don't worry.
Ubisoft needed a big W and by the looks of it they have got one, glad to see this game doing really well as its fully deserved as its a great game.
@heavyartillery56 It’s almost as if the game was released on more than just Steam. In fact, it was released on three platforms and the article states it’s done very well on PS5!
@LiamCroft We are in 2025 not 2010. Steam is where it's at. PS5 sales are barely ahead of PS4 sales and Xbox is dunzo. Steam is a great way to see how well a game is selling. Keep in mind that Ubisoft had a ton of flops recently and they even delayed Shadows a bunch. Wait a minute. Why am I telling you this. You already know all about it. You just don't want to treat the game fairly because you don't like what some people are saying on Youtube.
@heavyartillery56 bro! This really shouldn’t anger you to this extent. Good lord! Like, as soon as you see anything that remotely resembles good news about this game it triggers you. Self reflect, my man!
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@AhmadSumadi Actually read my posts instead of getting triggered yourself. The game is not doing well at all. It peaked at less players than Veilguard. And Ubisoft were talking about 1M players while other studios talk about 1M sales.
@Ravix
Couldn't have said it better myself.
@heavyartillery56 I think we’re treating the game considerably more fairly than the grifters on YouTube.
@LiamCroft So you admit that you are not treating the game fairly? Thank you.
@LiamCroft Three platforms but six different store fronts (PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, Epic, Ubisoft and Luna), people can't just keep using steam to measure a games success especially when there's over 90 million current gen consoles in circulation.
There's also going to be a lot of people waiting for the usual Ubisoft sale, so this game is going to have legs and can easily see it selling upwards of 15 million in its lifetime, which would be good considering it's also included in a subscription service day one.
@heavyartillery56
@UltimateOtaku91 If people are using Ubisoft's subscription* to play the game that's not exactly great for them. They needed the money.
@Ravix Delete that! It’s ruining the page!
Uh-huh....sure. I believe you.
@heavyartillery56 Players is a common way to talk about a games performance now, especially when you consider that Ubisoft has a subscription service that lets pc players play the full game (and many others) for £15 p/m. I almost took them up on it to play this but I need to focus on clearing my backlog first. That’s the only reason
Edit: I’ve now seen your post above. They wouldn’t be offering the service if it wasn’t paying the bills, but I suspect most players aren’t using that option.
@Lowdefal If you have been keeping up with the news over the past few years you would know that studios like Ubisoft can't be happy with 1M players day 1.
@AhmadSumadi Pretty sure that ship sailed when they posted this article and used the words "seemingly" like they didn't even believe Ubisoft.
@Lowdefal Xbox keeps offering gamepass despite not making profits. They had to either double down on purchasing studios like AKB or end it all.
@tselliot well, Ubisoft didn’t post the information so…
@heavyartillery56 Ubisoft games always have a long tail and pick up more sales when it gets to its discounts. Being the best performing entry that wasn’t released in Covid is no small feat. Especially given that people have had the knives out for this game ever since it was announced.
But somehow I think you made up your mind before the game even launched
@Lowdefal I actually made up my mind when AC Shadows peaked at 64k players on Steam on Sunday. Even Veilguard managed to do better.
@heavyartillery56 from you quick-to-anger responses about matters of little actual consequence to your real life, I take it the 56 in your username refers to you being between 5 and 6 in age rather than actually being 56 😏
Yeah, heard this one before with other titles from Ubisoft, even Outlaws "sold well" if we take any news from that time period.
I'll just wait for Q1 sales report.
@graymamba Anger? The game is a super duper expensive AAA release that peaked at ~25k less players than Veilguard on Steam. It's just facts. I am just trying to have a serious discussion about Ubisoft.
@heavyartillery56 "We are in 2025 not 2010. Steam is where it's at. PS5 sales are barely ahead of PS4 sales"
PS5 at 75 million units buddy which isn't a numbers to dismiss and it is a healthy platform that provided Ubisoft with a good chunk of potential buyers.
And one of the problem with Steam / PC gaming in general is many people have different hardware. So you can't expect every Steam users has the hardware to run AC Shadows. I bet a lot of Steam users only played indie games because that's what their PC / laptop limits.
@heavyartillery56 you do realise it’s sold over 2million copies, that’s substantially better than Veilguard.
But you keep living under that rock
According To VGC Assassin's Creed Shadows Sales Spilt:
I mean, Steam charts are always half the story and not always an accurate half because those numbers are estimations. I don't really care about AC but this is cool to see. Contrary to what the internet wants to tell you, PS is still a HUGE part of the industry.
@PuppetMaster Aren't there over 1 billion users on Steam? And isn't every studio including Sony releasing games on there because the player base is huge? And didn't Shadows peak at less than 25k players than the notorious flop Veilguard?
I was just on PSN Profiles a little while ago. Anyone want to guess what the most played game by members was.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Compared to other AAA games they are not doing well. And they needed this one to do extra well.
@graymamba You can't win. I work with a guy on the right-wing grift train and he has been proved wrong on so many occasions that his current defense is 'if I dont see it with my own eyes then I don't believe it'.
I feel sorry for the strain these poor people must have on their backs considering how many goal posts they move on a daily basis.
Good on Ubisoft for getting this win. The game looks great and if I didn't have so much in my backlog I'd pick it up. I'm sure I will at some point.
@heavyartillery56 sure, buddy.
@Jey887 People were saying the same thing about Veilguard. The truth is always somewhere in the middle.
@GymratAmarillo The peak player count is not an estimation.
I am predicting now, even with this initial positive news, this game will fail to meet sales expectations.
I’m really enjoying it so far. It feels very polished (compared to previous EA games). Love Naoe’s gameplay. I’ve been avoiding progressing the story because I don’t want to play as Yasuke/Samurai gameplay.
Currently level 26 and just exploring the map, clearing out fortresses in stealth and upgrading my hideout.
Enjoying it way more than Valhalla and Odyssey so far.
Edit: Love the featured music during certain fights. It feels straight up Kill Bill inspired.
@heavyartillery56 I feel like youre half right, steam is much smaller portion of players for Shadows than it was for Veilguard. Due to the ubi subscription. More players play AC on console. Dragon Age was always more PC game.
Also credit where credit is due, despite the pushsquare always following the narrative with these AAA games, at least they report on it when these games fail to meet the sales. That doesnt happen on every media.”
Personally i also doubt it will meet thr huge Ubis expectations, despite how well it mitht do in the eyes of fanboys. But well see.
@species People kept saying that DA was more of a console game as well. This argument will hopefully die soon as it's no longer representative of reality or at least don't magically make up for the weak sales on PC. As for the rest of your comment if I respond I would be just repeating myself and spam.
Ubi's a public company. In a few months the official sales numbers will be released for the launch window. There are positive signs but also deceptive corpo-speak (players instead of sales) and other complicating factors (Ubisoft+) that make it impossible to know the full picture at the moment.
@heavyartillery56 Let someone else speak, mate. 😂
@TheKurgan In my defense people keep replying to me. Maybe this forum needs to work more like reddit so I can reply to people in a separate thread from what others are saying.
@heavyartillery56 AC has never been big on pc it’s a series where the vast majority of its sales are on console. Seriously the game is a hit and didn’t fail so just let it go
@dark_knightmare2 AC also peaked at less than 25k players than Veilguard on the biggest gaming platform in existence. This is my last reply. Bye. Sorry for having to ruin the party with facts.
@heavyartillery56 dude shadows peaked at just over 65k which is the best for any AC release on steam where are you getting your info from
@heavyartillery56 Buddy, there's no 1 billion Steam users. You mean account but everyone can make multiple accounts. And the Steam stats showed there's only 132 million monthly users with around 69 million daily users. So where's the rest of 900+ millions account??? I doubt even your Lord Gabe can answer that question lol.
And the reason Sony released their games on Steam / PC because it's a different market compare to console. But so far i don't see any Sony games sold a billion copies on Steam let alone a hundred million lol.
@heavyartillery56 https://gamerant.com/pc-gamers-play-old-games/
8% of steam users game time is on games less than 2 years old as pointed out in one portion of the article above. Pc gamers pirate new games more and wait for sales in a much larger proportion to console gamers. Steam sales really don't mean a whole lot for more console centric new titles.
I've read on Forbes that even a commercial success is not going to save Ubisoft from a takeover of shareholders. It's not a question of money, but how bad and dishonest was the management board since the past years, like hiding issues and lying to investors. Also mentioning the law problems due to the stories of sexual harassment and how the management did nothing. Takeover from stakeholders would mean electing a new board of management and basically the company would leave France... ACS is probably a swan's song, whatever the quality of the game.
@heavyartillery56 The console wars are over. Enjoy games and have fun.
One of the funnier comments sections I’ve perused through 😂 Glad it’s turned out to be a good game. I may just give it a go at some point!
@heavyartillery56 My dude sounds so desperate to hold onto the rhetoric that it's actually a bomb when it just reads as typical hate. Too deep in whatever weird algorithm you've been fed dude.
@Jimmer-jammer I’ve never seen a comments section with this many comments and have 1 guy account for half of them. Odd behavior!
@AhmadSumadi my money is on him being a sneaky Templar 😉
@AhmadSumadi I've had that guy blocked for months. It's amusing that I can tell what their comments say based on the replies.
@heavyartillery56 here’s a video that might help explain some things
I just wonder how this guy somehow has access to sales numbers from the very secretive Sony. Is there an employee within leaking such information to him?
Isn’t it funny how the grifters against this game have moved the goalposts CONSTANTLY since launch?
First it was the game won’t review well, it did.
Then it was the game won’t match others in the series for player counts, it did.
Then they said fine but it won’t surpass the peak of the series player count wise! Then it did!
And now we find out the game is the second most successful launch in the franchise history only behind Valhalla that dropped in a perfect storm, with COVID, people at home, holiday sales and a new console launch.
So now they’re trying to tie this game to VEILGUARD???
@heavyartillery56 Steam isn't the only platform. You just can't seem to understand that maybe most people bought it on PS5 and Xbox or you that desperate to be right?
I’ve never seen a comment section with so many gifs, people sharing links etc, i’m sure everyone knows how to do cursive and underline as well, meanwhile i only know how to do this
@AhmadSumadi to be fair come into a Horizon thread with me and I’ll be that guy but defending not hating lol
@heavyartillery56 probably because of the price. I bought it on PS rather than Steam simply because it's cheaper. And you don't even own it on Steam.
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When did this place become reddit? This sucks bigtime. Just a bunch of fools arguing every comment section. Ugh.
@dark_knightmare2 I’m a Horizon super fan as well. I’ll defend that series hard!
@PuppetMaster you are hugely inflating Steam numbers. Valve announced steam just crossed 30 million daily active users like 2 months. Go to Steam charts it says 25 million Active now, and peak of 40 million. Dont forget 90% of them are just browsing Steam, not playing a game. And Valve never disclosed MAU so stop making things up.
@Ichiban it’s because if there’s any good news about this game, those who like it aren’t allowed to enjoy it. Every game has people who don’t like it. But this one is next level!
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It’s and awesome game. Beautiful on PS5 Pro. Gameplay is smooth. Presentation top notch. Glad it is selling well.
So many faces in palms today.
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Seriously, why all the hate for this game? It’s just a video game. Probably a good video game by the looks of it. But just a game.
@heavyartillery56 “ We are in 2025 not 2010. Steam is where it's at”
That even if people bought the game on steam. A lot people like buying third party keys, and the only option for that is usually Ubisoft connect key. So I wouldn’t jump to conclusions.
Veilguard was also a cheaper game.
@AhmadSumadi yeah, you're not wrong, it's rough in here!
Well it’s the first AC game for a long time that I will buy at some point… mid way through Witcher 3 (finally got round to playing it!) and just bought Khazan … it next on my list after that though
I'm loving the discourse around this game. So many people carrying grudges or carrying water for this title.
How we got to this point were people get so emotionally invested in a Ubisoft AC title, gaming's equivalent to a fast food meal, is beyond me. But I do very much enjoy to see an open exchange of opinion.
This culture war ha really made people high-strung on both sides. Just remember to enjoy your games between all the bouts people. 😉
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I like this site. But this comment section is pretty cringe Push Square. You guys are acting like Redditors. Especially with that overused Startrek GIF.
@themightyant When did gamers start wanting games to fail?
The moment the said game wasn’t on their platform of choice. Come on you been around long enough to know gamers want to see games and brands fail. They say it online all the time. Lately it get’s even more lame as PS gamers are happy to see the failure of live service games on their own platform in hopes it will get them more single player games that don’t make enough money for Sony to be overly interested in making these days. Sorry for the bad news i just like to answer questions i know the answer to.
Not a bad Start for a game the Japanese government discussed banning sales of in their country.
@DonJorginho indeed. Those same grifters were saying Monster Hunter Wilds and KCD2 would fail due to “go woke get broke” but they’ve CONVENIENTLY forgotten that now they are massive successes. And are twisting it to be one of their games now… Who would have guessed? The goal post moving is always so disingenuous.
As I said as the top when did gamers start looking for games to fail. Sad little toddlers.
@HonestHick Which platform didn’t it launch on? Switch? I know they act like children but I don’t think that’s the answer. Shadows is on PC, PS5 and XSX.
@heavyartillery56 Its peak playercount is an all time high for the series on Steam. AC was never big on Steam.
Glad its doing well as the game is fantastic and easily one of the better entries.
@themightyant oh my apologies, i didn’t mean assassin’s creed i meant any game. Insert any game into my comment and it applies.
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@AhmadSumadi did we just become best friends!
As someone in the trenches of PS's Shadows comments sections for the last few days, this particular one is immensely amusing.
I don't even feel the need to say or dispute anything here. Things are looking good for Shadows; if you don't believe that, and still only have Steam's unofficial concurrent player count as proof of the failure of a multiplatform game, none of us know what to tell you anymore. Maybe wait for more compelling evidence, then come back to your anti-Ubisoft crusade.
Highly deserved. I have been playing every chance I get.
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@dark_knightmare2 you cotdamn right we did!
@heavyartillery56 speaking as mainly a PC gamer, many AAA games sell better on PlayStation than PC.
@AhmadSumadi @themightyant
Responding to you guys as we seem to share similar opinions about this, but could have included a number more people.
I have just read all the way to the bottom of these comments in 1 hit - and had a really, really good laugh.
The sad reality is that some people are just so desperate to see certain games etc fail - to the point of it feels like they think their whole existence depends on it.
They are so far down this rabbit hole that the opinion of others, reasoning, and even facts will make no difference.
@Ravix I would normally think that number of gifs is way too excessive, but under the circumstances lol
@kedireturns "so stop making things up"
I google it and Steam stats showed those numbers. Wether it's true or not is not my concern. But you should ask google or Steam, not me, if you really want the validity of those numbers.
But the main point is Steam doesn't have over 1 Billion "users".
Btw why are you so angry? This isn't a serious topic.
@themightyant I'm just sad he also dragged in halo infinite, avowed and hi fi rush into the fight.
As someone who enjoys a a wide spectrum of games across pc and all 3 consoles why pick out some of the 3 actually good Xbox games (infinite I mean campaign, multiplayer I gave up with after the abysmal release schedule).
AC shadows is doing ok. It's got plenty of the more unsavoury modern gaming stuff, i.e. lots of paid options in a sp game, but it's definitely at the same standard as past ubisoft mainstream titles and other AC games partnered with a popular period and location. Angry internet people gotta be angry I guess
@Kierant202 don’t take that Kedi guy seriously, one look through his profile and all he does is argue with people over sales numbers, can’t imagine spending all my time caring about that stuff to such an insane degree.
Although seeing the contents of his now deleted reply in my emails this morning did make me chuckle, especially when he was factually wrong about multiple points.
It is crazy how all this passion is stemming from an Ubisoft title of all things; but I think that was bound to happen when you take beloved franchise and pit it against bad faith grifters, people will always defend against awful forms of hate, and the amount of racial slurs and hate I saw based off a VIDEO GAME was sickening, so it’s that little bit sweeter to see them scramble now another game they’ve went against has done well (just like Monster Hunter Wilds and KCD2 before it)
@Residentsteven yes. they found out it gives them lots of revenue. People are more prone to hate and complain than to enjoy things. Society is very sick.
@TimelessJubilee
@TimelessJubilee but, if you want a real answer it is thus:
Sometimes things aren't worth words because the person in question is ignoring the words of others. They clearly didn't read what the article said, and they clearly didn't read any responses to them pointing this out. They simply kept bringing up the same copy paste, review-bomb style argument about Steam "numbers" and "players" when told that this was about something else entirely (Digital Sales on consoles) just to make it seem like they were right in some never ending argument about absolutely nothing of any consequence.
@ItsBritneyB_tch "I’ve been avoiding progressing the story because I don’t want to play as Yasuke/Samurai gameplay." .......Do people who like this game not hear themselves talk? How does this not strike you as a problem?
@ITZz3PICZz it wasn’t as big an issue as I feared tbf. I’ve just reached the point where you get to choose between characters at the push of a button (after spending 20 hours exploring the map as Naoe) and the second time playing as Yasuke was much better. Their play styles are so different but it works and stops the game from feeling repetitive. I also love what they’ve done with the story so far. It’s much more interesting than any of the other modern AC games.
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