Assassin's Creed Shadows Said to Be Series' Second Biggest Launch Ever 2e6h1l Technology News

Assassin’s Creed Shadows released on March 20 after a being delayed twice from its original release date of November 15, 2024. 1r2d5j

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 25 March 2025 20:13 IST

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

Photo Credit: Ubisoft 4j2h1f

Assassin's Creed Shadows is set in 16th century Japan

Highlights

Assassin's Creed Shadows crossed one million players on launch day
The action-RPG features dual protagonists
Assassin's Creed Shadows is available on Steam

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Becomes Series' Second Biggest Launch u1c8

The latest 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.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Has Crossed 2 Million Players

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.”

🔥 2 MILLION PLAYERS! 🔥

We're thrilled to celebrate this incredible milestone!

Assassin's Creed Shadows has now sured the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey. Thank you for ing the journey in Feudal Japan! #AssassinsCreedShadows pic.twitter.com/a6YezXNtYI
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 22, 2025

Steam Launch Benifits Assassin's Creed Shadows 3ue2l

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 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+ who were able to access the game without buying a copy.

Ubisoft Faces Make-or-Break Moment with 'Assassin's Creed Shadows'

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 .

Assassin's Creed Shadows 27y2l

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Renewed focus on Stealth
Stunning visuals and open world
Polished combat
Lack of bugs and glitches
Focus on assassins? story

Bad
Repetitive gameplay loop
Weak story and characters
Shallow combat system

Read detailed Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Shadows review

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform Amazon Luna, PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows, PC: macOS

Modes Single-player

Series Assassin's Creed

PEGI Rating 16+

More Ubisoft Games

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Further reading: Steam

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More