Assassin’s Creed Shadows has had a long road to release. The game was supposed to come out in November of 2024, then was delayed to February of 2025, then was given a final release date of March of 2025. Shadows is the first game in the Assassin’s Creed series to be set in feudal Japan, a setting that fans of the series have been asking for for over a decade. The story features two playable and very different protagonists. Yasuke is an assassin that showcases her stealth, fast movement, and hidden blade while Yasuke is a huge tank that can take on many opponents at a time without a problem, but struggles to be stealthy. The choice of protagonist offers players two very distinct play styles to try and keep it fresh. In layman’s terms, you can play as a shinobi or a samurai.
There was a lot of pressure on Assassin’s Creed Shadows to do well. Ubisoft saw several games lose money in a row. XDefiant, Star Wars Outlaws, and Skull and Bones were massive and costly failures for the behemoth company. The failures were so impactful that Ubisoft’s reputation as a company was hurt, although this started before those games. One of the developers even went as far as saying the company would be in trouble if the game didn’t sell well.
Luckily for Ubisoft, the game seems to be a hit. Within two days of its release, the game has hit two million players, surpassing the launches of both Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Origins.
What's different about this game when compared to the other two aforementioned Assassin's Creed games, but is the same as Valhalla, is that it is available through Ubisoft+ at launch. This effectively means that, if players are okay with not actually owning the game, it can be played for only about twenty dollars after tax if said player is done with it after a month. This makes it much more accessible to those who aren't willing to she'll out seventy dollars for a new game. How the game's ability on Ubisoft+ has affected player count and will affect total revenue is hard to predict.
It has been reported that the game cost Ubisoft somewhere between $250 million and $350 million. Assuming every single one of the people playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows bought the base version of the game which cost seventy dollars, that would bring in $140 million dollars worth of revenue. Of course, that's not a perfect number as there are versions of the game that cost one hundred dollars and, like I said above, Ubisoft+ also accounts for an unknown amount of players. However, even if every single player bought the one hundred dollar version, it still wouldn't be enough to break even quite yet.
Games nowadays aren't just a one and done purchase, however. Just about every major title comes with the likelihood of DLC content, and there are usually micro transactions available for purchase. Assassin's Creed Shadows has plenty of those including cosmetics for your base, mount, weapons, character, and more.
So, while Assassin's Creed Shadows hasn't broken even just yet, it has still sold well.
Shadows has been hit by several controversies since it was announced. Much of the controversy surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about one of its main characters, Yasuke, a black samurai. There is undeniable proof that Yasuke did indeed exist, that he was black, and that he was a samurai in Japan at the time. The criticism regarding Yasuke is about how big of a role he played in feudal Japan at the time versus how big of a role he plays in the game’s interpreted version of historical events. Some of the disagreement is fueled by historical facts, but much of it is fueled by racism. There have been other controversies that are more about historical accuracy and respect for the culture in the game's design and depiction of Japan. How much these controversies have affected the game's sales, if at all, is unknown.
Assassin’s Creed has had several comic series that tie into their games. Comic series set in the same universe as the games, but tell a separate story have also been released. There aren’t currently any comics that tie into Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but there is a novel.
What are your thoughts on Assassin's Creed Shadows? Do you play as Yasuke, Naoe, or switch between the two? Let us know in the comments!