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[Astray]

You are right that games usually sell for a long time...if they have great word of mouth, which I am not really seeing with ACS. Hence my skepticism that it will reach profitability anytime soon. I really doubt Ubisoft is particularly happy with its performance.

It will eventually.

What they need to do it keep trending upwards with more hits.

People don't really understand that companies like Capcom don't achieve their strong sales based on new launches alone (altho those are great), at least %30-40 of those sales are made via discounted past fare too, things like the HD collections etc.

They also had that roller blade game and I'm pretty sure some noname obscure PC shooter that came and went. I forget the name and if it and whether it was F2P or paid.......... (edit.... it's Hyper Scape as you wrote. I had to google the name to make sure that's what I meant)

Problem with UBI is they got so many employees so they got to churn out games fast because there's only so many AC and Farcry kind of games they can make at a time.

Many of their games are also stretched thin with hardly any marketing sinking the game at the first step. So somehow they got money to make the game, but no money to keep it going in terms of marketing/advertising.

They also got a knack lately for DEI-ing a big name game like SW and AC, which just tanks sales. If they did that for a small game, it wont be as bad as sales werent expected to be big to begin with. But when they do it a big selling franchise, the negative sales effect will be huge.

The repetition of their big games is also a big factor in why they're selling slower.

If you played Valhalla then you likely had %70-90 of the Shadows gameplay experience. If you played Far Cry 4 then you might as well not bother with FC6 because same..etc

Their structure is just too rigid to allow their devs to innovate and create different flavors. I honestly miss when they did stuff like Watchdogs or Far Cry Primal, where at least the premises would get you going.

It doesn't help that when they tried doing new stuff like POP: Lost Crown it has also flopped (amazing game btw).

 

[PeteBull]

Best thing that can happen in my eyes in terms of the games -- namely Assassin's Creed -- is they eventually crumble, the IP gets sold off and the stars align with a quality, focused dev team under another company taking it on. A team who appreciate the original games and make a successor that's very much a love letter to the ACI, ACII & ACB days, and to a lesser extent, the ACR & ACU days.

Maybe, if at all, that's 10, 20yrs from now, but I'd love to see it one day...

These bland cookie-cutter RPGs set in large open areas can go suck a lemon, I wanna see dense, rich living worlds full of hustle and bustle, rooftops I can jump across. Charm in the story and characters, atmosphere in the environment and a distinct soundtrack that ties it all together.

Man, im rpg fanatic(love both western rpgs like elder scrolls/fallout/witcher series and jrpg too, hell even action rpg's like alundra from back in the day or more current souls/bloodborne/elden ring) and i still cant stand that rpg-esque AC design, played 15-20h of origins when it was still new concept, barely touched oddysey(under 2h playtime) and didnt touch vallhalla/shadows at all :/

 

[Topher]

What exactly was woke about it though?

It's just bullshit identity politics

 

[Rivdoric]

Just imagine giving your money to Ubisoft only for them to tell you "i cannot disclose how your money is being used".

They should make Yves Guillemot a GTA character as he checks all the requisites.

 

[Astray]

It's just bullshit identity politics

I genuinely haven't seen anything in any trailers to indicate that the game went woke in any way possible.

The actress had some brain-dead stuff on her social media, but who gives a shit if it's not in the actual product?

 

[calico]

If you played Valhalla then you likely had %70-90 of the Shadows gameplay experience.

Was this not just as true going from Odyssey to Valhalla?

 

[Astray]

Was this not just as true going from Odyssey to Valhalla?

Valhalla was out during the next-gen launch.

If you're buying a system then you likely bought Valhalla as it's one of the biggest launch multi-plats back then. Especially if you're on Xbox, which basically had no exclusives launching with the machine.

 

[Denton]

It will eventually.

I would say it might eventually, but when you invest 200+ million USD, you generally do not want to wait year+ just to break even. That's not a sound business.

 

[diffusionx]

I genuinely haven't seen anything in any trailers to indicate that the game went woke in any way possible.

The actress had some brain-dead stuff on her social media, but who gives a shit if it's not in the actual product?

you are asking in what way Girlboss of Yotei went woke?

 

[Astray]

I would say it might eventually, but when you invest 200+ million USD, you generally do not want to wait year+ just to break even. That's not a sound business.

It isn't. But they likely made back a lot of it already.

Time scope to profit cannot be based on just two months or so, that's unrealistic for any game imo.

 

[Astray]

you are asking in what way Girlboss of Yotei went woke?

How is she a girlboss? She's not shown bossing anyone around in any trailer?

Words apparently have lost all meaning now.

 

[Topher]

I genuinely haven't seen anything in any trailers to indicate that the game went woke in any way possible.

The actress had some brain-dead stuff on her social media, but who gives a shit if it's not in the actual product?

Just the fact that it is a woman main character was enough to set some off during the reveal. Beyond that, I don't see how it would be possible to insert today's identity politics into a game set in 1600s Japan, but some here seem convinced Sucker Punch is going to do exactly that. But yeah, last I checked the voice actress wasn't writing the script or directing the game. She's is just the voice.

 

[Astray]

Just the fact that it is a woman main character was enough to set some off during the reveal. Beyond that, I don't see how it would be possible to insert today's identity politics into a game set in 1600s Japan, but some here seem convinced Sucker Punch is going to do exactly that. But yeah, last I checked the voice actress wasn't writing the script or directing the game. She's is just the voice.

This is like when lefties complain about micro-aggressions or some shit like that.

The horseshoe theory is real I guess.

 

[calico]

They just have to switch Kratos out for a DEI protagonist now and I think that completes the set for Sony.

 

[Topher]

This is like when lefties complain about micro-aggressions or some shit like that.

The horseshoe theory is real I guess.

A classic....

 

[Hyet]

What exactly was woke about it though?

Inventing a samurai of african ascent from a historical black man kept as a curiosity in court (to put it gently) due to the influence of the surge of the BLM movement prior to the game development coincides with the woke corporate trend in western entertainment of swapping protagonists of known stories to black charaters or performers or putting black characters them under the spolight even if, due to context, it increases the suspension of disbelief signifiantly (as it's the case with AC: Shadows, since even when it has playful and fantasy elements it has always prided in recreating the atmosphere, landscape and people of different times and periods in an innmersive, belivable way).

If you take for example Blue Eye Samurai, a TV show that also features a samurai who is different from all other japanese samurai and how that character is treated by society even if the differences are not as eviden't as Yusuke's it's hard to believe someone with his traits would rise to the samurai status in such society. And that's because he never would. He clashes with the intent of putting the player in a beliveable and inmerssive feudal Japan but the devs think that's worth it because they think they have to show special defference to black people due to sociopolitical happenings they have strong feelings about. That's wokeness.

While Blue Eye Samurai shows some intelligence and restraint while inserting an "anachronic" protagonist it weaves it into the overall context much more smartly, making it one of the most interesting aspects of the show and makes the viewer feel like they are showing you an interesting side of feudal japan and a one-in-a-million life story instead of clashing with the setting.

Yusuke's status and development is so far fetched he just makes any scene he's in feel like parody.

 

[Astray]

Inventing a samurai of african ascent from a historical black man kept as a curiosity in court (to put it gently) due to the influence of the surge of the BLM movement prior to the game development coincides with the woke corporate trend in western entertainment of swapping protagonists of known stories to black charaters or performers or putting black characters them under the spolight even if, due to context, it increases the suspension of disbelief signifiantly (as it's the case with AC: Shadows, since even when it has playful and fantasy elements it has always prided in recreating the atmosphere, landscape and people of different times and periods in an innmersive, belivable way).

If you take for example Blue Eye Samurai, a TV show that also features a samurai who is different from all other japanese samurai and how that character is treated by society even if the differences are not as eviden't as Yusuke's it's hard to believe someone with his traits would rise to the samurai status in such society. And that's because he never would. He clashes with the intent of putting the player in a beliveable and inmerssive feudal Japan but the devs think that's worth it because they think they have to show special defference to black people due to sociopolitical happenings they have strong feelings about. That's wokeness.

While Blue Eye Samurai shows some intelligence and restraint while inserting an "anachronic" protagonist it weaves it into the overall context much more smartly, making it one of the most interesting aspects of the show and makes the viewer feel like they are showing you an interesting side of feudal japan and a one-in-a-million life story instead of clashing with the setting.

Yusuke's status and development is so far fetched he just makes any scene he's in feel like parody.

I wasn't asking about Shadows, I was talking about Yotei.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Ubisoft's artists who create these beautiful landscapes deserve better, hope they escape this sinking ship and stick around in the industry because there's some serious talent there.

 

[pudel]

I would say it might eventually, but when you invest 200+ million USD, you generally do not want to wait year+ just to break even. That's not a sound business.

Ubi had a record breaking Q4...and made 900 millions in the first three months of this year....and this means AC Shadow only counts for 11 days (released on 20.03.)!!! I would say they made their money back already after 10 days. Otherwise people need to explain where this record breaking revenue is coming from.

 

[Hyet]

I wasn't asking about Shadows, I was talking about Yotei.

I don't care, I will ramble about Shadows umpropted anywhere anytime!!!
I don't think it can be said if Yotei is woke or not with the information we have right now

 

[Topher]

Yusuke's status and development is so far fetched he just makes any scene he's in feel like parody.

You played the game?

 

[calico]

Ubi had a record breaking Q4...and made 900 millions in the first three months of this year....and this means AC Shadow only counts for 11 days (released on 20.03.)!!! I would say they made their money back already after 10 days. Otherwise people need to explain where this record breaking revenue is coming from.

What did they make in the previous Q4?

 

[pudel]

What did they make in the previous Q4?

870mio

 

[Zacfoldor]

Because they want to believe the game flopped.

People rely on poor sales metrics and analysis to push their narrative.

What happened before Ubisoft announced 1 million players? "The game underperformed. That's why they're not making another announcement. Then the 2 million and 4 million player announcement came, and they were still pushing the same narrative.

This game could sell 8 million copies within a year, and they would still call it a flop.

Surely you must understand why some of us think it "flopped."

The game's presence in the zeitgeist has done if no favors and I can't imagine a world where it has legs like past entries.

These big games need to show growth and this certainly feels like a retraction.

Ubisoft could 100% clear this up but instead we are given questionable metrics.

What I remember about the last two AC games(before shadows) was that they were ever-present after launch and always trying to tempt me into a purchase. It doesn't feel that way with shadows. In this industry you learn to trust your gut and my gut is telling me this popped big on launch and then fell off hard and it will have way worse legs than the last two games. It isn't a clear loser in one way but in another it is. This will be the game that depopularizes the IP, which is now on a downhill slope. You can have your opinions but my lying eyes are sometimes right so we'll see how this pans out. There is no victory to celebrate with this game. Ubisoft had a lot of big hopes pinned on it and I'm sure they had very high internal sales expectations. I also can't imagine they hit those. I am also VERY use to getting lied to and gaslit by the big companies in this industry, they do it with literlaly every single PR event they have and you have to learn to read between the lines in this racket.

 

[Topher]

Surely you must understand why some of us think it "flopped."

The game's presence in the zeitgeist has done if no favors and I can't imagine a world where it has legs like past entries.

These big games need to show growth and this certainly feels like a retraction.

Ubisoft could 100% clear this up but instead we are given questionable metrics.

What I remember about the last two AC games(before shadows) was that they were ever-present after launch and always trying to tempt me into a purchase. It doesn't feel that way with shadows. In this industry you learn to trust your gut and my gut is telling me this popped big on launch and then fell off hard and it will have way worse legs than the last two games. It isn't a clear loser in one way but in another it is. This will be the game that depopularizes the IP, which is now on a downhill slope. You can have your opinions but my lying eyes are sometimes right so we'll see how this pans out. There is no victory to celebrate with this game. Ubisoft had a lot of big hopes pinned on it and I'm sure they had very high internal sales expectations. I also can't imagine they hit those. I am also VERY use to getting lied to and gaslit by the big companies in this industry, they do it with literlaly every single PR event they have and you have to learn to read between the lines in this racket.

Just means you are guessing like the rest of us. All we know is what Ubisoft has told us: the game outperformed Odyssey in revenue and players. That doesn't sound like a flop to me. Doesn't mean it is a massive success either. This doesn't have to be either/or. But the bar set by some people here, such as the OP, is that either the game saves Ubisoft from its financial woes or it is a flop. I think that is absurd, but these are people fighting a culture war more than actually having rationale conversations about games.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Just means you are guessing like the rest of us. All we know is what Ubisoft has told us: the game outperformed Odyssey in revenue and players. That doesn't sound like a flop to me. Doesn't mean it is a massive success either. This doesn't have to be either/or. But the bar set by some people here, such as the OP, is that either the game saves Ubisoft from its financial woes or it is a flop. I think that is absurd, but these are people fighting a culture war more than actually having rationale conversations about games.

 

[DForce]

Surely you must understand why some of us think it "flopped."

The game's presence in the zeitgeist has done if no favors and I can't imagine a world where it has legs like past entries.

These big games need to show growth and this certainly feels like a retraction.

Ubisoft could 100% clear this up but instead we are given questionable metrics.

What I remember about the last two AC games(before shadows) was that they were ever-present after launch and always trying to tempt me into a purchase. It doesn't feel that way with shadows. In this industry you learn to trust your gut and my gut is telling me this popped big on launch and then fell off hard and it will have way worse legs than the last two games. It isn't a clear loser in one way but in another it is. This will be the game that depopularizes the IP, which is now on a downhill slope. You can have your opinions but my lying eyes are sometimes right so we'll see how this pans out. There is no victory to celebrate with this game. Ubisoft had a lot of big hopes pinned on it and I'm sure they had very high internal sales expectations. I also can't imagine they hit those. I am also VERY use to getting lied to and gaslit by the big companies in this industry, they do it with literlaly every single PR event they have and you have to learn to read between the lines in this racket.

Assumptions are not facts.

I'm going by the data that's provided to us, and there's nothing that proves the game flopped. Could it be revealed later that the game was far below expectations? Sure, but the "evidence" people have provided is not proof... or they're just mispresenting information altogether.

The stocks were going to go down even if the game broke even within the first two months.

Here's how we track sales.

- Estimate the revenue based on the sales/numbers.
- Since Ubisoft is proving players and not sales, we look to see how well the same has performed compared to other titles on the market and previous Assassin's Creed titles
- We look to see how well the
- We estimate the budget and revenue.

The legs appear to be decent after the first two months. This is very different compared to a game that completely bombed when the game is not even in the top 100 after the first two months.

 

[calico]

It would probably depend when those expectations were set. The expectations for AC Japan in the wake of Valhalla were presumably greater than their expectations closer to launch when it was already clear its weapons grade wokeness was turning people off.

Saying that they still managed to fall short of their (company) expectations stated in the Q3, which I guess is why the stock price cratered as soon as Q4 dropped. Maybe that was due to Shadows flopping harder than even the latest expectations or maybe it was something else. Hard to say with Ubisoft.

 

[Plague Doctor]

I am as confident in corporate spin from Ubisoft as I am confident that in feudal Japan there was buildings with Chinese architecture like I saw in the trailers.

 

[gpn]

Ubi had a record breaking Q4...and made 900 millions in the first three months of this year....and this means AC Shadow only counts for 11 days (released on 20.03.)!!! I would say they made their money back already after 10 days. Otherwise people need to explain where this record breaking revenue is coming from.

Ubisoft is doing great...

Ubisoft recently reported its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The company recorded €1.85 billion in net bookings, reflecting a 20.5% decline compared to the previous year. Its total revenue stood at €1.9 billion, down 17.5% year-over-year. Ubisoft also posted a non-IFRS operating loss of €15.1 million, reversing a profit from the previous year.

 

[Haint]

I just hope management is making them change the ugly bald black trans lesbian witches in AC Salem into big booty goth vixen lesbians

 

[calico]

Using a setting where by far the most interesting thing to explore about it is 'isn't it terrible how far men will go because of unfounded superstition' and then having you play as an actual witch -thus absolutely founding the superstition and undermining that whole point- is peak Ubisoft in my book.

I have a feeling Hexe is going to make the decision making that went on with Shadows look good.

 

[pudel]

Ubisoft is doing great...

Yep, overall they are doing bad...since years (which is no wonder looking at their employee count). But it was about AC Shadows not making back its money....and I seriously doubt that seeing their Q4 numbers.

 

[JayK47]

With so many losses, what is keeping Ubisoft afloat? Just Dance? Topher?

 

[calico]

Chy-na

 

[mckmas8808]

So the source of the data if from the r/fuckubisoft subreddit, with 'sales data' gleaned from estimates from Alinea Analytics, whose reliability we cannot attest to?

Meanwhile the Ubisoft stock drop comes mainly from the steep losses from the likes of xDefiant, Star Wars Outlaws and the shareholder response to the deal with Tencent?

Misleading information and unmitigated BS, driven by rabid hate. Incredible

Every word you typed was SPOT ON!!!!

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Using a setting where by far the most interesting thing to explore about it is 'isn't it terrible how far men will go because of unfounded superstition' and then having you play as an actual witch -thus absolutely founding the superstition and undermining that whole point- is peak Ubisoft in my book.

I have a feeling Hexe is going to make the decision making that went on with Shadows look good.

The dumpster fire of Hexe is gonna be hilarious. It has all the elements to not disappoint, but not in the sense they would like.

 

[Last Hearth]

I'm getting the data from https://alineaanalytics.com/.

In March, the game sold 1.2 million copies on the PS5, https://alineaanalytics.com/blog/march_2025_top_10/
In April, it sold 368 K on the PS5 https://alineaanalytics.com/blog/playstation_april_2025/
So total of 1.57 Million on the PS5.

On Steam, it generated 22.5 million revenue in March. Which divided by the 69.99 price tag is 321K sold. https://alineaanalytics.com/blog/game_of_the_month_2025_mar/
And we know it didn't do nearly as well in April as it did in March. Even if we are generous and say the numbers in April matched the numbers in March, that is 640K sold.
We also know that XBox was the worst performing of the 3 platforms. So even if we assume the best case scenario of XBox equal to Steam sales, that is 1.28 Million, plust the PS5 1.57 we get 2.85 million copies sold.

That is with the most generous assumptions, if we take a more reasonable approach as assume the drop off in April on Steam mirrored that of the PS5 which had a 70% drop, then total units sold on Steam would be only 417K sold, then even if we assume XBox sales were equal to steam, we're only looking at 2.4 million sold after 41 days.

Meanwhile E33 is looking at 3.3 million sold after 33 days,

 

[Deerock71]

3rd parties need Switch 2 more than Switch 2 needs 3rd parties.

 

[Bitstream]

In b4 everyone shows up -

 

[Fake]

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

In b4 everyone shows up -

Is there some news coming?