Ubisoft's open-world adventure into feudal Japan, Assassin's Creed Shadows, has reached a major milestone, surpassing 2 million players. This achievement follows a turbulent period for the game, including multiple delays and controversies surrounding its historical portrayal.

The Assassin's Creed franchise has transformed significantly over the past decade, evolving into a full-fledged action RPG since Origins. Ubisoft has largely maintained this formula, emphasizing RPG elements and vast open worlds for players to discover.

The game's apparent commercial success, with over 2 million players diving into the experience within its launch weekend, has been celebrated by Ubisoft.  The company highlighted that Shadows has already outperformed two of its previous successful titles, Origins and Odyssey, though the specific platform where it performed best remains undisclosed.

The impressive player count includes surpassing previous entries' concurrent player records on Steam, exceeding 60,000 concurrent players.

However, this success comes amidst a backdrop of controversy.  Alleged historical inaccuracies sparked debate and even drew attention from the Japanese prime minister, contributing to two separate delays prior to launch.  A day-one patch addressed one of these concerns, removing a controversial feature related to the destruction of in-game shrines.

The launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows occurs during a challenging period for Ubisoft. Recent titles, like Star Wars Outlaws, have fallen short of sales expectations, the competitive shooter XDefiant was shut down, and rumors suggest potential sales of company IPs to third parties.