"The Assassin's Creed franchise exceeded our expectations": Assassin's Creed Shadows is "overperforming" according to Ubisoft, set to "reach a broader audience" soon thanks to its new Nintendo Switch 2 port

Despite not releasing exact sales numbers for the game, Ubisoft says Assassin's Creed Shadows is overperforming compared to its expectations.

Despite touting the likes of three million players in one week and "second-highest day one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history," Ubisoft has played coy with the actual sales numbers for Assassin's Creed Shadows, instead, focusing on the number of "players." Since the player count also includes players who picked it up via a subscription to Ubisoft+, this had led to speculation that the game didn't perform quite how Ubisoft wanted it to.

However with the release of its latest financial results, Ubisoft says "the Assassin's Creed franchise exceeded our expectations" and has been "overperforming." Ubisoft says, "In the year to date, Assassin's Creed has generated 211 million session days, ~35% higher than the last two years' Average." Ubisoft also notes that Assassin's Creed "Shadows benefitted from the launch of the New Game+ mode, which was widely anticipated by the community."

Looking forward, Ubisoft reckons "Assassin's Creed Shadows will reach a broader audience with its launch on the Nintendo Switch 2" which is set to arrive on the platform at the beginning of next month. The company also noted that the Valley of Memory update for Assassin's Creed Mirage gave the game a massive boost, "doubling" player activity and "enabling the game to reach the 10 million player mark."

This echoes the sentiment given by Ubisoft earlier this year where it claimed Shadows had outperformed Assassin's Creed Odyssey, despite not quite reaching the highs of Valhalla– which Ubisoft dubbed the launch of as a "perfect storm." Meanwhile, Circana estimated that Shadows was the best-selling game in the US for its first three weeks in the US.

After launching Assassin's Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft dubs the market "more volatile" now amid rise of free-to-play titles and subscriptions: "Many new games are struggling"