Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'

Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance. — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ubisoft is continuing to trumpet the success of Assassin's Creed Shadows, saying today that the game has now surpassed three million players a week after its release.

The new big number comes just four days after Ubisoft said Shadows had broken the two million player mark, and points to continued growth for a game the company really, desperately needed to be a hit. More interesting, though, is the mention of money: While Ubisoft has previously stated that Assassin's Creed Shadows has "surpassed the launches of AC Origins and Odyssey," it hasn't (as far as I know) said anything about actual sales.

OVER 3 MILLION PLAYERS FOR AC SHADOWS! &#128293;&#9989;2nd highest Day 1 sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history&#9989;Biggest Ubisoft Day 1 ever on PlayStation Digital Store&#9989;Best community ever, with over 40 Million hours already playedJustice is forged in the Shadows. &#129413; — (Image credit: Ubisoft (Twitter))

Now it has: Shadows has put up the "second-highest day one sales revenues in Assassin's Creed franchise history." That's nothing to sneeze at, especially when considering the conditions surrounding the release of the number-one game, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which came amidst the "perfect storm" of the Covid-19 pandemic, when everyone was stuck at home playing videogames at a pace that created an unprecedented boom (and, sadly, bust) for the industry. The release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles at around the same time sure didn't hurt.

In fact, Ubisoft has told employees not to get too hung up on the comparisons with Valhalla, saying "it’s more meaningful to compare Shadows to entries like Origins, Odyssey, and Mirage—games released in more typical cycles." And also, as previously noted, games that Shadows has already handily beat.

The success of Assassin's Creed Shadows, particularly coming amidst a storm of ugly noise on social media (which ultimately amounted to very little in terms of real-world impact), has to be a tremendous relief for Ubisoft, which is still struggling to find its footing amidst a number of underperforming recent releases including Star Wars Outlaws and XDefiant, and a share price that's been in decline for the past five years.

Ubisoft took what looks to be a big step toward addressing those difficulties today, announcing a deal with Tencent to establish a new subsidiary company that will manage the Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six franchises, separate from the rest of Ubisoft's properties—but still ultimately under Ubisoft control.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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