Even Assassin's Creed: Mirage surpassed it in sales in three months. The game was an important bet for Ubisoft, but the Japanese setting, which fans had been waiting for, could not save the project.
Despite a strong start, Shadows reached three million players in its first week, but after 6 months, sales were only 4.3 million. This is a low result considering the invested budget and development time. For comparison, Mirage sold 5 million copies in 3 months, and the previous trilogy also sold better.
The reasons for the failure are clear: the game was released incomplete, many features were missing at the start, and disputes and inaccuracies in the depiction of feudal Japan worsened PR. Shadows' budget was estimated at $116 million, but today even 10 million sales are a common benchmark for AAA projects.
After the failure, Ubisoft and Tencent created a new division, Vantage Studios, which will take over the management of major franchises, including Assassin’s Creed.
Post-release content adds new mechanics and missions, but most of it feels like it was cut from the original version.
