"Assassin’s Creed Shadows Hits 1 Million Players on Launch Day: Ubisoft"

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, hit this impressive milestone before 4pm in Canada. Ubisoft expressed their gratitude, 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 reaching 1 million players on launch day is a significant achievement, it's challenging to determine the game's success without specific sales figures or targets from Ubisoft. However, Assassin’s Creed Shadows currently leads as the top-selling video game globally on Steam, based on Valve’s revenue charts. Early Steam data shows that the game achieved a peak concurrent player count of 41,412 on its launch day. Given its Thursday release, expectations are high for increased player numbers over the weekend, providing a clearer picture of its performance in the coming weeks. Neither Sony nor Microsoft disclose player numbers, so Steam remains the primary source of public data.

For comparison, BioWare’s single-player RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, launched on Steam on October 31, 2024, and peaked at 70,414 concurrent players.

The Complete Assassin's Creed Timeline

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The success of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is crucial for Ubisoft, especially after facing multiple delays and the underperformance of last year’s Star Wars Outlaws. The company has also encountered several challenges, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations leading up to this release.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has not been without controversy, particularly in Japan. IGN reported that Ubisoft released a day-one patch addressing concerns from Japanese politicians regarding in-game representations of temples and shrines. Notably, Japanese politician Hiroyuki Kada raised these concerns in an official government meeting, to which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba responded.

Assassin's Creed Shadows - Early Skills Tier List

On Steam, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is receiving positive feedback, earning a 'very positive' user review rating with 82% of nearly 4,000 reviews being positive. IGN’s review awarded the game an 8/10, praising it for "sharpening the edges of its existing systems, creating one of the best versions of the open-world style it’s been honing for the last decade."

Amidst these developments, reports suggest that Ubisoft’s founding Guillemot family and largest shareholder are in discussions with Tencent and other investors about a potential buyout deal that would allow them to maintain control over the company.