Assassin's Creed: Shadows Just Crossed an EMBARRASSING Line...

Assassin's Creed Shadows Flopped So Hard That It Just Lost to a 7-Year-Old Game... Ubisoft’s DEI Disaster Now in Full View

Sheeeeeeit.

It’s official: Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a flop of epic proportions. Not that anyone who's been paying attention is really that surprised. Ubisoft’s self-declared “AAAA” games are now pulling fewer concurrent players than their older one, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. You may recall that particular title was released all the way back in 2018 (YIKES!).

According to SteamCharts data, Shadows peaked at just 7,673 players over the May 10th, 2025 weekend, while Odyssey hit 7,879 in the same 24-hour window. Let that sink in for a minute... A brand-new, heavily marketed, blockbuster franchise entry with a Hollywood budget rumored to have reached potentially upwards of 800 million dollars or more, is now being outplayed by their very own 7-year-old predecessor.

This isn’t just embarrassing, it's Ubisoft hitting rock bottom. While we all saw this day coming eventually, even I'm shocked at just how fast this happened...

One of the biggest reasons for this catastrophic failure? Ubisoft’s reckless obsession with DEI over quality storytelling. The same issue that was causing rifts leading up to launch in the first place. Shadows chose to sideline any actual Japanese historical authenticity by centering the narrative around Yasuke, a real historical figure but... Honestly, an odd choice as the main face of a game set in feudal Japan. A black character to lead a Japanese game? Hmmm... I know I'm not alone when I say this wasn't the smartest game design decision. I mean, fans everywhere had been begging for years for an AC game set in Japan, and Ubisoft finally delivered, but it was clearly only by letting a DEI committee write the script. Instead of focusing on the easy and expected route of fantasy and a stealthy ninja or samurai blending into an ancient world, we got a clunky character-switching mechanic between a female ninja and an outsider that Ubisoft has constantly incorrectly claimed to be a samurai (where there is no substantial evidence that Yasuke ever even was a samurai), neither of whom truly feel like actual assassins. It came across as just simply corporate box-checking disguised as creative direction, and the ensuing result was a disjointed mess that nobody is excited to keep playing. Speaking on personal experience. I put about 8 hours into the game. It wasn't terrible, as far as adventure games go, but it didn't hook me at all. Terrible voice acting, recycled gameplay loops, and boring storyline/cutscenes that felt tacked on instead of an actually well-written narrative to make me want to find out more. To be honest, I just didn't care to pick the game up again, once other, better games appeared, like Schedule One, and Expedition 33. In the highly competitive field of gaming these days, it just didn't stack up.

The online backlash isn't limited to myself either - it has been relentless nearly across the board. Fans have been meme-ing the collapse, mocking Ubisoft’s silence on sales figures (or some could even call it lies, stretching the truth, mentioning players engaged over actual sales numbers), and pointing out the irony that Shadows—despite its bloated marketing-can’t even beat games people have already 100%-completed years ago...

Steam forums, Reddit, and even Ubisoft’s own community spaces are full of players abandoning Shadows and reinstalling older titles like Black Flag and Origins instead. Most have agreed that older AC games are just superior in every way. For those claiming “it’s all on UbiConnect,” the excuse doesn’t hold. Even Ghost of Tsushima, a PlayStation exclusive from all the way back 2020, is trending higher in conversation and interest. Tbf, that game is incredible and I don't have enough good things to say about it.

The fact that so many people STILL never played GoT and tried AC: Shadows instead is heartbreaking. I'm hopeful I can use this opportunity to give those a nudge to now give it a shot, if they hadn't before. Hell, go revisit it if it's been to long, The game holds up exceedingly well still to this day.

This moment here should be a wake-up call to all of Ubisoft, but they’ve proven time and again that they don’t learn from their mistakes. It's beyond embarrassing, but nothing new these days for them. Their insistence on pushing ideology over immersive gameplay has alienated the very fanbase that made Assassin’s Creed a household name. The numbers speak for themselves, and Shadows here is shaping up to be the most expensive PR disaster in franchise history. Can't say fans and gamers alike didn't try and warn them...

At this rate, we gotta ask the obvious elephant in the room question... How long can Ubisoft can keep ignoring their audience before the investors finally revolt completely?

~Smash