Ubisoft's latest release, *Assassin's Creed Shadows*, has made a significant impact right out of the gate, surpassing 1 million players on its launch day. The game, which hit the shelves on March 20 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, reached this impressive milestone before 4pm in Canada, as announced by Ubisoft on social media.
"It's not even 4pm here in Canada and Assassin's Creed Shadows has already passed 1 million players!" Ubisoft exclaimed, expressing their gratitude and excitement. "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 is undoubtedly a strong start, the true measure of success remains elusive without specific sales figures or targets from Ubisoft. However, *Assassin's Creed Shadows* is currently the top-selling video game on Steam globally, indicating strong revenue performance on Valve's platform.
On its launch day, *Assassin's Creed Shadows* achieved a peak concurrent player count of 41,412 on Steam. Given that the game was released on a Thursday, these numbers are expected to increase over the weekend, providing a clearer picture of its performance in the coming weeks. Neither Sony nor Microsoft disclose player numbers, leaving Steam as our primary source of data.
For context, BioWare’s single-player RPG *Dragon Age: The Veilguard*, which launched on Steam on October 31, 2024, saw a peak of 70,414 players on the same platform.
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The launch of *Assassin's Creed Shadows* comes at a critical time for Ubisoft, following several delays and the underwhelming sales of last year's *Star Wars Outlaws*. The company has faced numerous challenges, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations, all of which have heightened the stakes for this latest installment.
Additionally, *Assassin's Creed Shadows* has not been without controversy, particularly in Japan. IGN confirmed that Ubisoft released a day-one patch that addressed concerns from some Japanese politicians about in-game representations of temples and shrines. This issue was significant enough to be raised by Japanese politician Hiroyuki Kada in an official government meeting, with a response from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
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On Steam, *Assassin's Creed Shadows* is receiving positive feedback, boasting a 'very positive' user review rating with 82% of nearly 4,000 reviews being positive. IGN’s review of the game awarded it an 8/10, praising it as "one of the best versions of the open-world style it's been honing for the last decade."
Amidst these developments, Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family and its largest shareholder are reportedly in discussions with Tencent and other investors regarding a potential buyout, aiming to maintain control of the company.
