Assassin's Creed Shadows faced a few bumps on its way to launch, ranging from a multitude of delays, to controversy over one of the game's characters, Yasuke, as well as Shadows being classified as a CERO-Z (adults only) rating in Japan due to gore. The game caught additional ire in Japan as well, after a cutscene was shown of a character defacing a shrine, with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba condemning it, as he was concerned over it affecting real-world behavior. On top of that, Ubisoft began an anti-harassment campaign for the developers of Assassin's Creed Shadows; in attempts to protect them from "toxic fans", they were advised to not use social media during the game's launch window, while Ubisoft provided counseling, both legal and emotional, if needed, as the game's detractors were so severe.
Despite this, it appears that all the negative attention did not heavily impact the sales performance for Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft stated that the weekend sales for Shadows surpassed the prior two-day sales for both Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. This was also the first Assassin's Creed title to launch on Steam since 2019, with Steam sales data contributing "a significant role" in the amount of copies sold. Video Games Chronicle reported that through insider sales information, Assassin's Creed Shadows has the second-highest launch for the franchise, behind Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which launched in 2020.
:arrow:
Source
