Assassin's Creed Shadows Said to Be Series' Second Biggest Launch Ever

Assassin’s Creed Shadows released last week and had an impressive first weekend as over two million players flocked to the game across PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Ubisoft confirmed Saturday that the action-RPG had surpassed the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey. While the company has not made initial sales figures public yet, two separate reports have claimed that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the series’ second biggest launch ever, behind only 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Becomes Series’ Second Biggest Launch

The latest Assassin’s Creed game is said to have generated the second-highest day-one sales revenue for the franchise. The information comes from two separate reports from VGC and IGN that cite Ubisoft sources and an internal email discussing the game’s sales performance. Shadows’ launch-day sales performance is second only to Valhalla in the series, which remains the highest-selling Assassin’s Creed game of all time.

It’s also worth noting that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla arrived at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when countries across the world had implemented lockdown rules, resulting in more people staying at home and playing video games. The game’s sales also benefitted from a cross-gen release on consoles.

Ubisoft, too, recognises as much; As per IGN’s report, the company considers Valhalla’s exceptional sales performance a result of favourable conditions, and as such, intends to compare 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 said, quoting Ubisoft’s internal 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 company’s sales data, as reported by both publications, also claims that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is Ubisoft’s best day-one launch on the PlayStation Store. The game has found a sizable player base on PC, as well, especially due to its day-one launch on Steam. According to Ubisoft, 27 percent of the game’s total “activations” came on PC, with Steam playing a “significant role.”

Ubisoft, however, has not yet shared sales figures for Shadows, even though it has cited strong player engagement in its communications, both internal and public. The company said over the weekend that the game had crossed over two million players. This number, however, includes Ubisoft+ members who were able to access the game without buying a copy.

According to SteamDB charts, the Japan-set action-RPG has seen an all-time peak concurrent player count of 64,825 at the time of writing, a number that could rise in the coming days. The sales performance of Assassin’s Creed Shadows should become clearer in time, especially when Ubisoft reports its quarterly financial results.

The French company has been banking on the game to deliver a hit after back-to-back disappointments with the launches of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft’s stock price has taken a beating over the past year, falling 40 percent in 2024 and pushing the company’s founding Guillemot family to explore talks with Tencent and other investors over a buyout deal.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows released on March 20 after a being delayed twice from its original release date of November 15, 2024. Ubisoft said it utilised the additional development time to further polish the game and incorporate player feedback.