We said at the end of 2024 that after years of struggles, Ubisoft "desperately needs a win," and it looks like Assassin's Creed Shadows has delivered, with strong reviews, impressive player numbers, and maybe most important of all, no big catastrophes on the way out the door.
In a message posted to the Assassin's Creed subreddit, the development team thanked its supporters for sticking with the game, and promised that "this is just the beginning for Shadows."
"This weekend, many of us on the Dev Team spent time reading your reactions across the Assassin’s Creed subreddit—and we just want to say thank you," the development team wrote. "The sheer amount of love and positivity we've received has been incredibly heartwarming.
"We came across this post in particular—and it really moved us. Seeing your excitement, your thoughtful reactions, and your joy has meant the world to us. After years of hard work, there’s nothing more rewarding than watching the community connect with what we've created."
Developers don't reply to individual posts directly, but are reading them, "and it's been inspiring," the message states. "And it helps us keep improving."
It's a well-deserved moment for a development team that's been under fire for years, primarily from toxic culture warriors angry about the presence of a Black man in a game set in feudal Japan. Ubisoft has stepped in it a few times itself, the fallout from which was amplified by the pre-existing outrage, and the last-minute delay out of 2024 (and subsequent second pushback) gave off a powerful vibe of a game in trouble.
"THANK YOU" - A Message from the Assassin's Creed Shadows Development Team from r/assassinscreed
In hindsight, though, that delay was the right move. One game isn't going to reverse a company's flagging fortunes and it seems likely that Ubisoft will undergo some sort of major transformation in the not-too-distant future, but Assassin's Creed Shadows passed two million players in just two days, an admittedly mushy metric that nonetheless puts it among the most popular games in the history of the long-running series. It's not a revolutionary gaming experience but it is a very good Assassin's Creed game, and assuming Ubisoft's goal was to make a very good Assassin's Creed game, hey, mission accomplished.
The developers' message is especially heartening given that Ubisoft reportedly bracing for an ugly backlash on social media, to the extent that it was encouraging employees not to disclose their roles as developers on Shadows in order to avoid potential harassment and abuse. The message on Reddit isn't credited to any single developer but even so it stands as a welcome rebuke to anyone eager to see the game fail, and its development team along with it.
Unsurprisingly, especially given the strongly positive response, there will be more to come.
"Thank you for being part of this journey with us," the team wrote. "This is just the beginning for Shadows, and we're thrilled to see the game evolve with you by our side."
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