Despite a rocky year for Ubisoft and its executives leaving many to wonder how the newest installment of its biggest franchise would turn out, Assassin's Creed Valhalla has broken two sales records for the entire series, continuing the franchise's path of success.
Ubisoft has been in the eye of the news throughout 2020. Amidst several reports of sexual misconduct within multiple branches of the company, a slew of company executives stepped down from their positions within Ubisoft, including Creative Director of Assassin's Creed Valhalla Ashraf Ismail, who left his role in June.
The controversy, however, seemed to not have greatly impacted Valhalla's performance in sales or game reviews. Though some outliers stood out among the majority, many reviews boasted scores above 80% positivity, but the sales numbers for Valhalla are far more impressive.
In a press release on November 17th, what was meant to be the game's original launch date until it was moved up to coincide with the Xbox Series X launch, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed Valhalla sold through more units in its first week of release than any other Assassin's Creed title so far. Additionally, Valhalla was the franchise's biggest PC launch ever, resulting in an all-time record on the Ubisoft Store.
Though specific numbers for these record-breaking figures were not given, other fun statistics about AC Valhalla players were stated in the press release. Players are actively enjoying the adventuring side of the game, having already covered more than 4 million kilometers of ground. Also, 55 million buildings have already been unlocked since Valhalla's launch and 3.5 million games of Orlog have been won.
Julien Laferriere, the lead producer on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, expressed his delight for the performance of one of Ubisoft's most recent releases, thanking the franchise's fans for their "incredible support." He states that delivering the game during a global pandemic "was a true tour de force," but also says that Valhalla's launch is just the beginning of the game, and fans can expect much more to "keep players immersed in their epic Viking saga for a long time to come."
The performance in sales and reviews by both Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion have come as a surprise to those following the controversial news surrounding the Canadian development studios. Not much is certain about how exactly Ubisoft plans to move forward, but it's clear that for the time being, it will continue to release high-performing titles.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: GlobeNewswire
