Ubisoft has disclosed the fact that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has ‘overperformed’ the company’s estimates which were kept internal, thus the new title is viewed as a bearer of ‘positive momentum’ for the vast repertoire of the franchise as well. Besides, the video game company also announced a 39% rise in the performance the previous year when comparing it to the quarter performance, while its cost-cutting program was characterized as ‘on schedule.’
Now, what does the term ‘overperformed’ actually suggest? It is nothing but a vague expression without any meaning that corporations use in their financial statements, and it is, as a result, making players on social media doubt and question the matter. A social media post by insider Shinobi602 broke the news which led to an immediate lively discussion among the users on social media. Some are really happy about the announcement, whereas others are on the fence and skeptical, throwing in the phrase ‘shareholder speak’ and asking what metrics Ubisoft is actually using.
One of the users, Cobra Flow, was very straightforward and simple, saying ‘That indicates that internally they expected it to perform a lot worse. Not that it did well. This is shareholder speak.’ Similar to that others also reasoned that if the game had indeed been a colossal record-breaking success, not only would the company make it known, but they would probably even be shouting the actual sales figures from the rooftops. Instead, we are given the term ‘overperformed’ which feels like it is… intentionally vague.
The matter of whether game sales or hours played was in question when Daniel Ricardo remarked ‘And this “overperforming” is about hours played?! Or I got that wrong?’ is indeed a very critical one. The fact that live-service engagement is dominating the market so much nowadays, ‘overperforming’ could mean that people are playing the game for long hours, which does not necessarily indicate that it is selling a lot of copies. Later, Shinobi602 enlightened that Ubisoft has not been quoting unit sales of their games for years now, the last official figure being that of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in 2020 which sold over 10 million copies. So, we are all really left in the dark.
Uh, uh, wait…oh, right, the reaction. The company’s position is totally mixed up. On one side are the players who really enjoy the game. ‘Nice to see a game overperforming expectations. I enjoy it quite a bit,’ wrote Sinister Portents. Another player, JS_Space_Ninja, posted, ‘I’ve been enjoying this game. I’ve put 95 hours into it so far.’ Therefore, it is quite clear that Shadows is loved by a big part of the player community.
However, the other perspective is the opposite one—the controversy. Assassin’s Creed Shadows had their share of discourse from the very beginning, and it was mainly concerning the characters and the setting—in feudal Japan. The company’s announcement of the game’s success was, as expected, accompanied by some gloating. ‘Haters are crying right now lol,’ said EmpireZz_. A user, ThePixelRobot, seemed to predict, ‘I’m sure the anti-woke mob will react very maturely to this news.’ It looks like that no matter how the game’s performance is measured, it is a win for its most vocal opponents.
Then, there was this whole… thing. You know what I’m talking about. The unforgettable social media episode in which the official Assassin’s Creed account totally wiped the floor with Elon Musk and commentator Grummz with just one post. User LChurch814 wrote, ‘Probably didn’t hurt that it had one of the best marketing plays in modern history: Catastrophic ratio’ing of Musk and Grummz.’ Another user, Mischief, directly declared, ‘Ubisoft needs to give the AC social media guy a raise. Killing two birds with one stone by doubling Musk and Grummz with a brand account is insane.’ That viral moment did certainly give the game a very large and free publicity, which is something money cannot buy.
Surely not every discussion around the game focused on either its quality or marketing. Some comments voiced skepticism as to whether Ubisoft was a healthy company overall. The mention of a ‘cost reduction program’ made SpeedKomodo sound the alarm bells, as he branded it ‘slimy considering how ‘good’ ubi’s track record is with treatment of their own staff.’ Others like Sagittarius 0 simply declared the company ‘bankrupt’, a claim that was promptly countered by those pointing at the 39% revenue increase.
So where does the situation lead us? Thus, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game that takes the pressure off the company by demonstrating that they considered it to be a more pessimistic case with regard to their metrics. It is also pushing a 39% year-on-year quarterly revenue increase, but it should be noted that there wasn’t a major Assassin’s Creed release on PlayStation or Xbox during that period.
