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

Assassin's Creed Shadows has made a stunning debut, surpassing 1 million players on its launch day, Ubisoft proudly announced. Released on March 20 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, the game reached this impressive milestone before 4pm in Canada. Ubisoft expressed their gratitude on social media, 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 hitting 1 million players on launch day is a remarkable feat, it's challenging to fully assess the game's success without specific sales figures or targets from Ubisoft. However, it's clear that Assassin's Creed Shadows is currently the top-selling video game on Steam, based on Valve's revenue charts, indicating strong financial performance on the 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, it's anticipated that these numbers will increase over the weekend, providing a clearer picture of its performance in the coming weeks. It's worth noting that neither Sony nor Microsoft disclose player numbers, so our data is limited to Steam.

For comparison, BioWare's single-player RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard, launched on Steam on October 31, 2024, reached a peak of 70,414 players on the same platform.

The Complete Assassin's Creed Timeline

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The pressure on Assassin's Creed Shadows to perform well globally is immense for Ubisoft, especially following several delays and the underwhelming sales of last year's Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft has faced multiple 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. Just yesterday, IGN reported that Ubisoft released a day-one patch addressing concerns from some Japanese politicians about the depiction of temples and shrines in the game. In a notable exchange, Japanese politician Hiroyuki Kada raised the issue in an official government meeting, prompting 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 scored the game an 8/10, commending it for refining its open-world mechanics and delivering one of the best iterations of the series in the past 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, aiming to retain control of the company.