Summary
It’s been pretty evident by the build toAssassin’s Creed Shadows, and the missteps that have come before it, thatUbisoftis banking on its newest game being a mega hit. So far, it looks like Shadows really could be the studio’s saving grace, evidenced by a direct comparison of its physical sales to howStar Wars Outlawsperformed.
Industry analyst Christopher Dringhas shared some early notes on how Shadows has performed so far, and it’s looking very good for the latestAssassin’s Creedgame. The biggest takeaway from Dring’s notes is that in Shadows' first three days, the new game has sold more physical copies than Star Wars Outlaws managed in its first three months.
Despite the difference in timeframes and this being physical sales only, no matter how you frame it, this is a huge win for Ubisoft and Shadows. Not to mention, another damning blow for Outlaws when it’s already down and almost certainly never getting back up. The exact numbers aren’t clear, but it’s one of many indicators that Shadows has hit the ground running.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is Already Outperforming Star Wars Outlaws
It Has Sold More Physical Copies In Three Days Than Outlaws Managed In Three Months
Even better for Shadows is it has enjoyed the biggest physical launch in the UK so far this year. It might only be March, but this year has includedMonster Hunter Wildswhich enjoyed a mammoth launch,hitting almost 1.4 million concurrent players on Steamduring its opening weekend. Comparing Steam numbers to physical sales isn’t an exact science, but more people buying physical copies of Shadows than Wilds during its opening weekend is a good sign that the new Assassin’s Creed game has been exactly what Ubisoft needed it to be so far.
The only downside shared by Dring is that despite outperforming Wilds and Outlaws, Shadows fell short of beatingAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’s physical launch sales. Again, no exact numbers, but Dring notes Shadows is “well short” of Valhalla with all of the appropriate caveats applied. Valhalla had sold somewhere between 12 and 15 million copies at last count. I imagine Ubisoft would probably be over the moon with even half of that for Shadows.
Naoe and Yasuke’s new adventure hitting that goal seems likely based on its early success and how many people have been confirmed to be playing it during its launch weekend. Ubisoft has confirmedShadows has been played by two million peopleacross all platforms, whether they picked up the game digitally or physically, during its release weekend.
