Ubisoft had what it says is its best quarter ever, according to its most recent financial report. And the publisher owes a lot of that success to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. The open-world Viking adventure was one of the breakout sales hits on the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S hardware. And that fueled the franchise to all-time highs.
“[Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla] delivered record sales and ranked, with Watch Dogs: Legion, among the top-four best sellers on the new generation consoles,” Ubisoft chief financial officer Frederick Duguet said. “Our back-catalog also turned in a remarkable performance, with record momentum for our Assassin’s Creed titles, solid growth of the Far Cry franchise, and strong increase in engagement and revenues for the The Crew brand and our Free-to-Play game Brawlhalla.”
Ubisoft claims that the momentum of Assassin’s Creed and its other franchises made it the “leading publisher” of 2020 in terms of games sold. On PS5 and Xbox Series X/S alone, the company was the No. 2 leading publisher. That’s due to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Immortals Fenyx Rising all landing in the top-seven best-selling games on those platforms.
And while Valhalla is powering the growth for Ubisoft and the Assassin’s Creed franchise, that fan interest is spilling over to previous releases. The publisher is reporting a “steep rise in player engagement” for both Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Origins.
The combined success of Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins all helped push Assassin’s Creed to record revenues as a whole.
GamesBeat
GamesBeat’s creed when covering the game industry is “where passion meets business.” What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you — not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. How will you do that? Membership includes access to:
- Newsletters, such as DeanBeat
- The wonderful, educational, and fun speakers at our events
- Networking opportunities
- Special members-only interviews, chats, and “open office” events with GamesBeat staff
- Chatting with community members, GamesBeat staff, and other guests in our Discord
- And maybe even a fun prize or two
- Introductions to like-minded parties
