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

The pressure is immense for Assassin's Creed Shadows to perform well globally for Ubisoft, especially after the 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 leading up to the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows.

The situation has become dire enough that the Guillemot family, founders of Ubisoft, is reportedly exploring talks with Chinese mega-corp Tencent and other investors about a buyout deal. This deal aims to preserve control over the company's intellectual property.

The gaming community is keenly observing Assassin’s Creed Shadows' initial performance for indicators of its success or failure. While Ubisoft has not yet released official sales figures, they announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows reached 2 million players within two days of its launch, exceeding the initial performance of both Origins and Odyssey.

There's also significant focus on Shadows' concurrent player counts on Steam, which are being compared to other recently released triple-A single-player titles, as well as previous entries in the Assassin's Creed series on Valve's platform. Over the weekend, Shadows became the most-played game in the franchise on Steam, with a peak of 64,825 concurrent players. It's important to note, however, that it was the first game in the series to launch on Steam on day one. For comparison, Dragon Age: The Veilguard from BioWare achieved a peak of 89,418 players on Steam.

Determining whether Shadows is meeting, exceeding, or falling short of Ubisoft's expectations is challenging without knowing the specific targets set by the company. However, insights from an internal email reviewed by IGN, shared by a Ubisoft source, shed light on the game's performance over its first weekend.

According to the internal data, Shadows achieved the second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise's history, surpassed only by Valhalla in 2020, which benefited from the unique circumstances of the pandemic and the launch of new console generations. Shadows also marked Ubisoft's best-ever day-one launch on the PlayStation Store, indicating strong performance particularly on PS5.

The Complete Assassin's Creed Timeline

25 Images

On the PC front, where Shadows was also released on Steam alongside Ubisoft's own digital store, 27% of the total "activations" were on PC. Ubisoft credits Steam with playing a "major role" in Shadows' PC performance, though specific sell-through numbers remain undisclosed. The company views the early results as a strong validation of their decision to return to the Steam platform.

Ubisoft emphasizes high player engagement, which is at "record levels," and reports that "feedback across moderated, verified platforms — those less affected by review bombing — remains incredibly positive." Shadows was the most-wishlisted Ubisoft game of all time and is performing better on Twitch than any other Assassin’s Creed game, including Valhalla.

Ubisoft's internal communication provides context on how Shadows' launch compares to other games in the franchise. While Shadows did not match Valhalla's launch performance, Ubisoft argues that such a comparison is unfair given Valhalla benefited from a "perfect storm" of pandemic-driven stay-at-home gaming and the launch of the Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5. "Valhalla launched under extraordinary conditions — in the middle of a global pandemic, with widespread lockdowns and brand-new console hardware," the internal communication states. "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."

What's Your Game of The Year 2025 So Far?

Pick a winner

New duel1ST2ND3RD

See your ResultsFinish playing for your personal results or see the community’s!Continue playingSee results

Ubisoft also noted that Shadows released in March, deviating from the franchise's usual pre-Thanksgiving launch window, which historically boosts sales. Additionally, Ubisoft did not offer an early access period for Shadows, which they typically charge extra for. The availability of Ubisoft's subscription service directly on Xbox further complicates sales comparisons on Microsoft's console.

Ultimately, the financial performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows will be the key factor in determining not only the game's success but also 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 embarking on an adventure in feudal Japan, explore our comprehensive Assassin's Creed Shadows 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.