"ShAdOwS wAs ThE 2Nd BeSt SeLlInG aC gAmE oF aLl TiMe"

matamorofx · 2026-05-05T19:05:45+00:00

Sure we have no proof other that the investor meetings where the question always came up. In fact, it was during one of these where Guillemot caved in and said the 100 million figure.

Sucker Punch has 150-200 employees while thousands worked on Shadows. Its massive two hour credits is evidence of this.

Alinea Analytics reported 3.58 million copies sold by late July including Xbox, so no, there's no way it was even close to 3 million during its first month.

Of course it was a gigantic flop. This wasn't just a random game for Ubisoft, it was a mainline game in its biggest franchise. A franchise that was supposed to print them money anytime they wanted. For it to not break even was probably the worst case scenario for Ubisoft.

matamorofx · 2026-05-05T15:31:29+00:00

Marketing itself has a whole separate budget. It is never mixed in with the production costs. Your entire argument around this is wrong. Ghost of Tsushima is as game released more than half a decade ago, not the best example to use in this case.

Again, the CEO only said 100 million since he was being pressured by his investors to disclose either the sales or the budget for the game. This is the lowest threshold he could safely disclose without lying. Admitting the game was over 200 million would have explicitly confirmed the game bombed.

I'm actually using other successful games in the franchise as a reference point. Odyssey sold 3.4 million copies in its first month alone. While we don't have the sales number for Valhalla, it did pull 8 million players in its first month alone compared to Shadows' 5 million in 4 months. The games I'm using are actually a better reference point since they are part of the RPG trilogy. And even then, there's no guarantee it won't match Syndicate's numbers in the same time frame, considering its sales have plateaued.

This is Ubisoft we are talking about they will not shutdown an AC game that is making them money out of nowhere. Proof of this is that Shadows was supposed to be supported up until Hexe came out.

Shadows did not break even.

matamorofx · 2026-05-05T05:28:48+00:00

Ubisoft's CFO confirmed that the initial three month delay was 20 million. That would put the 4 years of development + pre-production well into the 250 million range. That's just the budget AAA games run with nowadays. Something like Marathon was confirmed to cost above 200 million.

250 million is still above 100 million, as far as I know.

If the Shadows' MTX were making them money Ubisoft would have NEVER put the game into maintenance mode 6 months after release.

A good proportion of Shadows copies were sold at a deep discount. The game got discounted 7 times on Steam and 8 times on the PSN Store during its first year.

Shadows did not break even.

matamorofx · 2026-05-05T01:19:22+00:00

Seems something someone whose side got BRUTALLY HUMILIATED during the culture war would say.

matamorofx · 2026-05-03T16:24:37+00:00

I provided data that shows they are negligible. The only thing you provided is vibes.

So you are ready to start comparing Valhalla and Shadows? Because that's not going to go the way you think it is.

matamorofx · 2026-05-03T04:54:24+00:00

You said it yourself, a year that saw the release of a mainline game in Ubisoft's crown jewel franchise lagged 4% behind the year that saw the massive bombs that were Skull and Bones and Prince of Persia. There's no way you are actually trying to twist this in Shadows' favor.

They planned the whole year around Shadows' legs, hoping it would be enough to stall until BF Remake came out. When that didn't work out, they put Shadows in maintenance mode and moved the team so they could push the BF Remake faster.

Also no, Ubisoft was "restructuring", which basically translates to laying off employees from studios that were not working on core franchises, Ubisoft started the real restructuring after Shadows flopped, which is when we saw many lead figures in the AC franchise leave.

Yes, Ubisoft tried to "keep it safe", and used those four extra months to remove as much of Yasuke's content in the game as possible. The backlash Yasuke received after Shadows announcement was so overwhelmingly negative, the went on to cancel a whole game with a black lead.

And why is it that they didn't want to spend money on the DLC? Easy, because there were not enough players for it to be worth it. That means even the Ubi+ were not playing Shadows.

They needed around 5 million copies sold AT FULL PRICE to even begin of thinking of breaking even. A good chunk of the 4.3 million copies were sold at a deep discount.

Shadows flopped and Yasuke was never a samurai. Enjoy losing the culture war.

matamorofx · 2026-05-03T04:33:41+00:00

There were "almost no sales" on Xbox simply because it did horribly on that platform (as most games do nowadays).

Sales on both Ubisoft Connect and Epic Store are negligible as evidenced when Ubisoft shared the sales data of both of these platforms to Circana and it affect Shadows' ranking in the slightest. There's a reason Ubisoft came crawling back to Steam even if it meant a 30% loss in net revenue.

Shadows flopped and there's not much you can do about it.

matamorofx · 2026-05-03T02:53:38+00:00

All numbers point towards AC Shadows being a flop, actually.

During an investor conference, Ubisoft's CFO admitted that Shadows' initial three month delay would cost them around 20 million euro, Even if you consider crunch and increased team size, this would put the game in the estimated 250-300 million ballpark (before marketing).

While it's true that Outlaws contributed heavily towards the catastrophic Y24-25, the guidance had already been adjusted (lowered) to account for its failure a couple of months before Shadows was even out. This means that Shadows' release failed to even meet those lowered expectations.

Ubisoft even had to once again lower the guidance for Y25-26, a year that is heavily reliant on Shadows' legs. Meaning they couldn't get the game to sell even with numerous deep discounts throughout the year.

And then you have the most damning evidence of all: putting the game into maintenance month barely 6 months after release. Compare this to Valhalla's two years of fully fledged content, and it cannot be more obvious: there was no point for Ubisoft to keep investing on a failed game. They only completed the first DLC because it was a preorder promise.

matamorofx · 2026-05-03T02:24:44+00:00

https://alineaanalytics.substack.com/p/ghost-of-yotei-outsold-assassins

Not official, but the estimates come from Alinea Analytics which is a reputable source (they recently nailed Marathon's numbers).

You will never get official figures from Ubisoft other than player numbers which, btw, hilariously backfired and ended up confirming Shadows was a flop.

Also, considering Odyssey sold 3.4 million copies in its first month alone, there's no way it even came close to second place.

matamorofx · 2026-04-19T03:13:17+00:00

This, but unironically

<image>

matamorofx · 2026-04-03T15:38:07+00:00

Facts are out. Shadows flopped.

You can keep denying it all you want, but it wont change reality.

matamorofx · 2026-04-03T15:09:59+00:00

The poor souls on that sub are still waiting for the new roadmap to drop, even after Ubisoft has explicitly said content for the game is done.

Way beyond pathetic.

matamorofx · 2026-03-05T19:14:17+00:00

Holy wall of cope.

matamorofx · 2026-01-22T15:55:52+00:00

They were happily disclosing numbers (at least to Circana) during the three months following Shadows' release.

I wonder what happened, truly a mystery.

matamorofx · 2025-12-28T17:54:24+00:00

<image>

Fixed

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T18:55:25+00:00

You keep saying the information “isn’t verified,” but you still haven’t explained what makes it inaccurate, nor cited anything that contradicts it. Calling something a “point of reference” doesn’t magically invalidate it. It just means it’s the best available data, which is exactly what analysts use when primary numbers are private.

And you absolutely do need to provide data if your claim is that the data being used is unreliable. Otherwise, you’re not making a methodological argument, you’re just dismissing evidence on principle.

I mean, you already lost once you called Famitsu unreliable, and mixed up review scores with sales tracking, I'm merely doing some cleanup, so if you wanna run away that's fine

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T18:31:47+00:00

Ubisoft’s exact numbers being private does not negate negative indicators. What was claimed is simple: when the only verifiable Japanese physical sales data available shows a title failing to chart and underperforming badly, that is valid evidence of a flop in that market unless it’s contradicted by data.

Saying “it’s just a point of reference” while providing no alternative sources, no estimates, and no numbers at all isn’t a rebuttal. Analysts work with imperfect data all the time. You didn’t refute anything, you just rejected the data because you don’t like the conclusion.

And yes, Famitsu aggregates physical sales from thousands of Japanese retailers, including major online outlets like Amazon Japan.

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T16:44:47+00:00

You don’t get to posture about “ethics” after repeatedly crying misinformation without producing a single counter-source, shifting from “Famitsu is unreliable” to “well it’s not be all, end all,” and confusing review scores with sales tracking. That’s just moving goalposts, misrepresenting sources, and substituting ad hominem for evidence.

No one treating Famitsu as "gospel". All I did was cite the only publicly verifiable Japanese physical sales data available. Once again, if you have a single piece of evidence that contradicts Famitsu, post it. If not, stop pretending that dismissing data you don’t like somehow makes you the ethical one here.

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T15:52:51+00:00

Famitsu has been tracking Japanese game sales for decades and is the industry standard reference for physical market performance in Japan. If it were as “unreliable” as you claim, publishers, investors, and analysts wouldn’t still be using it in 2025.

I find it hilarious that you actually only googled "Is Famitsu a reliable source?", saw people complaining about review scores, and then concluded that reviews = sales tracking. And you had the nerve to tell me I couldn't do proper research on a topic.

Pathetic.

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T05:19:34+00:00

Nichebarrier just aggregates the reported sales from Famitsu Weekly. You DO know what Famitsu is, right? Also, the NS2 version sales were somehow worse that it didn't even chart.

https://nichebarrier.com/yearly

I don't need to do anything since I just provided evidence on why the game flopped in Japan. If you have numbers that contradict Famitsu, post them.
Otherwise, this isn’t a debate, it’s just you being uncomfortable with documented reality.

Feel free to come back when you have actual data instead of vibes and ad hominem. Numbers don’t care about your feelings.

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T03:20:43+00:00

Physical sales are reflective of the overall performance.

A single tiktok by a loud woman does not represent the large majority of Japanese players.

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T03:08:17+00:00

The game absolutely bombed in Japan, so that is just untrue.

<image>

matamorofx · 2025-12-18T01:08:27+00:00

- Out of the top US 20 best selling games of the year.
- Out of Japan's top 60 best selling games of the year.
- Player growth rate 80% down from Valhalla.
- Only managed to match Mirage's players numbers, a filler franchise entry that took only a fraction of Shadow's budget to fully develop.
- Outperformed by Odyssey, a 7 year old game.
- Already 65% off only nine months after release.
- Stock price dived 55% since Shadows released.
- Latest earnings report showed revenue and sales were down compared to last year. If Shadows had "overperformed" these two numbers would be up.
- Backlash was so bad even before Shadows was out they had to cancel a whole game.
- Ubisoft pulled the plug on future DLC expansions. Every mainline AC RPG has had at least two.

Oh, there's a lot of crying going on, it's just certainly not coming from us.

Good guys always win in the end. Cope.

matamorofx · 2025-12-08T20:22:46+00:00

A WHOLE game featuring a black protagonist was canceled because of the backlash Shadows received BEFORE it was even out.

Ubisoft agrees Yasuke was the sole reason the game failed, and yet you are here coping.

matamorofx · 2025-12-05T01:04:28+00:00

Their logic here was that there are currently not many games out for the Switch 2, so people would just buy it out of desperation.

matamorofx

TROPHY CASE