The Success of Assassin's Creed Shadows Proves the Limited Impact of Negative Campaigns

The past few years have been challenging for Ubisoft, with allegations of a toxic work culture, poor stock market performance, and a lack of hit titles. However, the recent sales figures for Assassin's Creed Shadows have brought some relief to the company. Although the game may not break any records, its performance is respectable, and it is currently ranked second in the US annual sales charts, behind Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds. This is significant for Ubisoft, as the Assassin's Creed franchise is a crucial part of the company's commercial strategy. The series has a broad appeal, with the last major entry, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, generating over $1 billion in revenue and the franchise as a whole selling over 200 million games. The success of Assassin's Creed Shadows is a testament to the fact that the franchise still has a strong following and can withstand controversy. The game was initially targeted by an online outrage campaign due to its choice of protagonist characters, with some critics alleging that it was disrespectful to Japanese culture. However, the backlash was largely driven by a small group of vocal individuals, and the game's sales figures suggest that it has had little impact on the game's overall success. The controversy surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows is not an isolated incident, as many companies struggle to navigate the complex landscape of online outrage and controversy. The triggers for these outbursts are often unpredictable, and companies that try to design games defensively to avoid criticism may end up causing more harm than good. Instead, Ubisoft's approach to dealing with the backlash against Assassin's Creed Shadows, which included delaying the game to ensure its quality and not removing or changing content in response to criticism, has proven to be effective. The success of the game demonstrates that a critical mass of ordinary people playing and enjoying a game can easily overpower the reach and volume of a small, bad-faith negative campaign.