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Assassin's Creed Shadows crosses one million players in one afternoon

The early surge of downloads on Shadows seems to bode well for the game out of the gate.

TJ Denzer

March 20, 2025 4:53 PM

Image via Ubisoft

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Ubisoft launched Assassin’s Creed Shadows today, and with it, the latest generation of its open-world stealth-action adventure. There has been a lot of chatter around Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and it seems to have paid off because the game has already allegedly crossed over one million players in the span of an afternoon.

Ubisoft announced the million-player accolade for Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20, 2025 from its social media. The game released on all platforms today, and in short order, it crossed a million players. Note, that’s not necessarily units sold. Copies of Assassin’s Creed Shadows can be played on an Ubisoft+ subscription, which includes access to the game. Still, a million players in the game in the span of an afternoon is a million players in the game in the span of an afternoon.

It's not even 4PM here in Canada and Assassin's Creed Shadows has already passed 1 million players!

Thank YOU from the bottom of our hearts for joining this adventure in Feudal Japan. We are beyond excited to start this journey with you! 💝 pic.twitter.com/1cqwABrQfN

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 20, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been at the center of a lot of conversations in gaming since its original announcement in May 2024. Nonetheless, it came out this week and has seen generally positive response from critics, including here at Shacknews. With a wealth of conversation and buzz around it, and positive feedback so far, it seems like Ubisoft’s big investment into Shadows has paid off so far.

And with this just being the first day of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ release, it’s likely just the start of accolades for the game. Stay tuned to the Assassin’s Creed Shadows topic for more updates and news on the game as it drops, as well as a wealth of guides to help your along your journey.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.