After multiple delays, Ubisoft which only a few months ago downsized its Sydney hub, has now finally released Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The release has attracted 2 million players less than a week after it launched on March 20, making it Ubisoft’s second-biggest launch to date, behind Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and ahead of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
The game is available on Xbox Series X|S, MacOS, and PC via Steam, the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store and as part of a Ubisoft+ Premium Subscription.
Set in feudal Japan, it allows players to fight as a shinobi assassin and a samurai, and reportedly had over a million players join in the first 24 hours of its release.
Ubisoft’s share price on Monday climbed 7.78% to Eur13.10, although it’s still down by more than 30% from a year ago.
The company’s founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent Holdings are believed to be considering taking Ubisoft private.
The French videogame maker pushed the release of its Assassin’s Creed Shadows to March 20, after it was initially planned to debut in November last year, and then later rescheduled to February.
In January, a fresh set of job cuts were announced at Ubisoft. A total of 185 jobs were axed, and around 100 of those impacted two UK studios – Leamington and Reflections.
The remaining job cuts will affect employees at Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Stockholm following “targeted restructuring” across the company as it aimed to “prioritise projects and reduce costs.”
Late last year, dozens of video game developers in Sydney were reported to have been laid off after Ubisoft confirmed it would shut down a free-to-play first-person shooter game previously described as a “Call of Duty killer”.
That decision resulted in its San Francisco and Osaka studios closing, and its Sydney production team downsized, with nearly 300 job losses reported, including around 70 at its Sydney division in Ultimo, reported The North West Star.
