Assassin's Creed Valhalla is Ubisoft's biggest PC game launch ever
Viking go brrr.
We already knew that Assassin's Creed Valhalla doubled Odyssey's day one player count, but Ubisoft has also confirmed that Valhalla is also its most successful PC launch ever. In a press release, Ubisoft explained that Valhalla has sold more copies than any other Assassin's Creed during the same period, which isn't all that surprising considering it's one of the few games available on next-gen systems like the PlayStation 5. A lot of people were obviously going to buy it.
What's interesting, though, is that Ubisoft says part of that success was driven by "all-time record" sales through the Ubisoft Store, which is only found on its Steam-like platform Ubisoft Connect. Ubisoft didn't share how the Ubisoft Store sales compared to other platforms like Steam or Epic—or how many copies have been sold so far on PC—though.
Still, Valhalla's big success isn't that surprising to me. I reviewed it at launch and quickly fell in love with its Viking fantasy and surprisingly intimate story. It's easily the best Assassin's Creed in the entire series and a big improvement over the already great Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
"We are truly delighted by the enthusiastic response from players and want to thank the fans for their incredible support," producer Julien Laferrière said. "Delivering this game amid a global pandemic was a true tour de force by our teams and it’s fantastic to see players enjoying the game so much."
Speaking of Scandinavians, though, Valhalla isn't the only Viking game breaking records. Shortly after its launch, Paradox's Crusader Kings 3 sold more than a million copies, pushing its profits up by 102 percent.
The 800s, so hot right now.
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With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.