A new player sentiment analysis conducted by PlayerXP contradicts Ubisoft’s claim that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has “positive community sentiment.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
During the company’s Q1 FY2025 Sales conference call in July, an investor from HSBC asked about how pre-orders for both Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows compared to previous Ubisoft releases.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot responded, “We don’t disclose nor comment [on] pre-orders, usually. What we can say, what we’ve been observing and measuring is that our two big titles actually are among the most awaited games of the industry and they enjoy very strong positive community sentiment overall.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
However, PlayerXP’s Community Sentiment Report for Assassin’s Creed Shadows disputes this claim. The company found that “the overall sentiment calculated, which represents the voice of the players, is -13.”
Breaking down player sentiment by social media platform, It had a -14 rating on YouTube, where the majority of interactions came from, a -7 rating on X, a positive 2 rating on TikTok, and a -55 rating on Facebook albeit it only factored in 105 interactions.
PlayerXP Community Sentiment Report for Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Furthermore, the analysis detailed many of the biggest talking points and key words have negative sentiment including Japan, Ubisoft, Yasuke, and history. PlayerXP noted, “These all have significant negative sentiment associated, with the historical element being the most negative at -45. This has been driven by players expressing concerns about the historical accuracy and cultural depiction.”
It added, “Additionally, the character ‘Yasuke’ has received a negative sentiment score of -17 from the player community, aligning with the themes. Players have highlighted inaccuracies related to this character.”
“It is worth noting that the Ubisoft player community is highly engaged, with a record number of interactions in a short date range, and talking points around ‘excitement’ of the new launch drove positive sentiment +34,” PlayerXP shared.
PlayerXP Community Sentiment Report for Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Later in the report, PlayerXP detailed “that one of the primary areas of negative sentiment emerged around the Monetisation Category. Notably, the ‘monetisation’ topic is a recurring source of dissatisfaction, as seen in the community’s reaction to both Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws.
The Player community has voiced frustrations about Ubisoft’s perceived prioritisation of monetisation strategies over player experience, a sentiment that is influencing their reception of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The consistent negative feedback regarding monetisation strategies suggests that player feel unheard, affecting their overall trust in Ubisoft.”
PlayerXP Community Sentiment Report for Assassin’s Creed Shadows
It’s highly likely that Ubisoft already knows that player sentiment around the game is negative as Nick Dempsey from Barclays specifically asked Guillemot during the investors call, “When you talk about [Assassin’s Creed Shadows] being the most ambitious are you hoping for it to be the best selling Assassin’s Creed game?”
Guillemot responded, “At this time, we can say that AC to be among the high sellers of the company so far.” Clearly, that means that Ubisoft does not expect it to be the best selling Assassin’s Creed game to date.
Eurogamer reported in February 2022 that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla earned more than $1 billion in revenue by itself.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
What do you make of this report claiming that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has negative player sentiment in contradiction to Ubisoft’s claims?
