How Ubisoft spent $2.1M on influencers to secure the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows

Pasta la Vista

Pasta la Vista

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How Ubisoft spent $2.1M on influencers to secure the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows

What is this and why am I doing it? Welcome to my ongoing deep dives into influencer marketing for major game launches! Having analyzed Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, FragPunk, and Split Fiction, today I'm breaking down Ubisoft's long-awaited "Assassin's Creed Shadows," released o
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Top Creators Hired

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Excerpt:

A Chronological Overview

The road to Shadows was remarkably long, even by AAA standards. Ubisoft first revealed the Japan-set project (then called "Codename Red") back in September 2022, meaning the full marketing cycle spanned over 2.5 years:
  • September 10, 2022 - Initial reveal as "Codename Red" during Ubisoft Forward
  • May 15, 2024 - Official "Shadows" title reveal with cinematic trailer (initial Nov 2024 release date)
  • June 10, 2024 - Extended gameplay demo at Ubisoft Forward
  • August 19, 2024 - "One Duo - Two Playstyles" trailer released
  • September 25, 2024 - First delay announcement (to February 2025)
  • January 9, 2025 - Second delay (to March 20, 2025)
  • January 23, 2025 - Story trailer & livestream preview event
  • February-March 2025 - Final marketing push with multiple brand partnerships
  • March 20, 2025 - Global launch
This extraordinarily long runway allowed Ubisoft to build anticipation over time, though the two delays interrupted momentum.

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I only know the one dude Hasanabi from the list, and not for good reasons. If I had known he was promoting AC: Shadows it would have added another reason to the pile of why I would not be buying this game.
The rest I have never even heard of.
 
Gotta say, this game has had more controversies than the US government had in the last 20+ years - and for all the obvious reasons.

Apparently though, all of it has been "fabricated" and it's the racists'/chuds'/incels that are at fault here, God forbid that a scummy, multi-billion company with a known history of scummy practices and agenda driven drivel that's really at fault eh ?

Just looking at the new thread about the game's (good sales), you see the usual suspects trying to celebrate some sort "victory" while throwing the usual and now tired "racism" accusations left and right like there's no tomorrow.

We really live in a weird alternative timeline, the proof is there and yet people, for some reason, are always at the ready jumping at each other's throats.
 
Lethal01 said:
Do people think this is unique? Every AAA game is sspending massive amouts of money on adverstising, millions upon millions
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Indeed.

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Monster Hunter Wilds - $1.7 Million Influencer Budget, Platform Allocation, Creators Hired

What is this and why am I doing it From my meetings with marketers in the industry, I realized many teams are flying blind when it comes to how much to spend on marketing, and where to spend it. Nobody knows who's spending what, where and on who.
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
 
CompleteGlobalSaturation said:
This is why I despise Ubisoft.

The company needs to burn.
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What the fuck are you talking about? Do you know how many publishers sponsor streamers to play games? This happens literally every day and it has been a marketing tactic for years. It's a super easy way to reach a ton of people.

Don't be dense.
 
it's almost like people who play games and talk about games for a living (including media) benefit from Ubisoft doing well and Ubisoft games.

I'm shocked, genuinely shocked.
 
Wow, what else is new in AAA gaming? Most streamers have #AD streams, and it's pretty common for triple A titles.

Vince Vaughn Lol GIF by filmeditor


I wish I could get my games for free by playing them on Twitch. Alas, I don't want to.
 
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Shambalakan said:
Isn't it a normal thing in this industry?
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No, it's not normal, only desperate, failing company would need to do such thing. Ubisoft need to bump up AC Shadows number, so that their deal with Tencent could be finalized

Other companies let their games speak for themselves (Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon Ball, etc)
 
Added a couple more screenshots of Country and gender distribution.

Interesting that twitch has a gender category for "other" and "non-binary"

...yeah, I don't know man
 
It's quite disingenuous to isolate Ubisoft and AC Shadows when pretty much every major publisher does this. Even smaller and lesser known studios do this, and just falls under a marketing budget.
 
Kotaro said:
No, it's not normal, only desperate, failing company would need to do such thing. Ubisoft need to bump up AC Shadows number, so that their deal with Tencent could be finalized

Other companies let their games speak for themselves (Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon Ball, etc)
Click to expand...

www.linkedin.com

Monster Hunter Wilds - $1.7 Million Influencer Budget, Platform Allocation, Creators Hired

What is this and why am I doing it From my meetings with marketers in the industry, I realized many teams are flying blind when it comes to how much to spend on marketing, and where to spend it. Nobody knows who's spending what, where and on who.
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
 
Kotaro said:
No, it's not normal, only desperate, failing company would need to do such thing. Ubisoft need to bump up AC Shadows number, so that their deal with Tencent could be finalized

Other companies let their games speak for themselves (Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon Ball, etc)
Click to expand...
Just searched for it and there are articles about it, like this one.
A 2019 estimate from The Wall Street Journal suggested that publishers including Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard have spent as much as $50,000 per hour to get Twitch's top streamers playing their games; while that eye-popping figure is probably an outlier, it does indicate just how much companies value streaming promotion.
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Kotaro said:
No, it's not normal, only desperate, failing company would need to do such thing. Ubisoft need to bump up AC Shadows number, so that their deal with Tencent could be finalized

Other companies let their games speak for themselves (Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon Ball, etc)
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Oh, my sweet summer child.
 
Skifi28 said:
Oh, my sweet summer child.
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Don't bother. Shadow rotted this guy's brains. I've never seen someone so obsessive and committed to the failure of one game. It's like this game offends him on a deeply personal level.
 
Kotaro said:
No, it's not normal, only desperate, failing company would need to do such thing. Ubisoft need to bump up AC Shadows number, so that their deal with Tencent could be finalized

Other companies let their games speak for themselves (Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon Ball, etc)
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Tell me you've never worked in the videogames industry without telling me. Of course EVERYONE does this. Even fucking EA with EA Sports FC lol. What the heck do you think Marketing and PR departments do? Advise on online banner colors?
 
near said:
It's quite disingenuous to isolate Ubisoft and AC Shadows when pretty much every major publisher does this. Even smaller and lesser known studios do this, and just falls under a marketing budget.
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The creator of the article provides good data. Obviously this is part of modern marketing budgets. I still think its interesting to see how that money is distributed, amongst whom and where. This sort of data is good for transparency so people can be informed about content creators and their sphere of influence.
 
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Game must have flopped pretty hard, as the market reaction has negatively impacted there share price which is down in the shitter with close to a 20% drop in 5 days, wiping off hundreds of millions of there valuation, as per:

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1 year and 5 year view far worse as well.
 
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Boss Mog said:
The only ones coping are the people who believe the game was a success and that the company was saved by it. Imagine being so desperate to adhere to "the message" that you will champion such a mid game from a company that has been on the decline for over a decade now.
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Who said the company was saved by Shadows?
 
Every company does this but when Ubisoft does it they are evil and deserve to be burned in hell

Lmao ar the hypocrisy
 
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