Gamers only want one thing: to put an end to the Warring States period and unify Japan beneath the wise consulship of Lord Nobunaga Oda, the Demon King of the [[link]] Sixth Heaven. Or [[link]] they might want to kill Oda, actually. I'm not sure. Depends on the game.
Either way, is, per data seen by , the second-biggest Assassin's Creed launch of all time behind AC Valhalla, and it's in no small part down to PC gamers. A full 27% of the game's "Activations" happened on our platform of choice, though it's worth bearing in mind that doesn't translate to 27% of sales. Ubi uses the word activations because it presumably encompasses people playing the game via their Ubisoft+ subs.
For one thing, [[link]] November is just a juicier sales period in general, but more significantly this was right in the thick of the Covid-19 lockdowns, when we were all desperate for something to do and Valhalla's ludicrously huge open world seemed like just the ticket. Given we're all allowed to touch grass again now, Shadows managing to catch up to 's Viking sim seems like nothing to sniff at.
Now, whether it's all been enough to pull Ubisoft out of the spiral of cancellations, poor finances, layoffs, and CEO remains to be seen, but there's no question it's a win for a company that was desperately in need of one.
And hey, Shadows deserves it. In our , PCG's Morgan Park scored the game a healthy 80%, praising it as a "stealth action buffet" with "surprisingly great combat," even if the story was a little rote.