Assassin’s Creed Odyssey sold 26 per cent fewer copies than its predecessor Assassin’s Creed Origins at UK retail, representing a downturn in physical sales for the series. It’s perhaps worth nothing that the title is releasing earlier in the year than Bayek’s Egyptian adventure, which deployed on 27th October, 2017. This means that it’s going to have a few extra weeks of important Christmas sales, which could make up the difference. Of course, it’s going to be competing with Red Dead Redemption 2 real soon.
We should add that Chart-Track doesn’t paint a particularly accurate picture of the British games industry these days, as it doesn’t include digital data just yet. Last year’s Assassin’s Creed Origins sold 35 per cent of its total copies through storefronts such as the PlayStation Store, so it’d be fair to expect a similar ratio for Odyssey. All that said, we do think franchise fatigue and the looming Rockstar release is probably affecting Ubisoft’s open world to some degree – but we’d need digital data to be able to determine exactly how much.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 42
I can't comment on the quality of the game but I do think that moving back to a yearly release cycle is going to hurt Assasins Creed - particularly as they are making the worlds bigger and this whole continuous service thing. While it won't affect sales that much, I'm also put off by the ability to pay to skip through the grind.
I think if this had had another year, it could have been billed as more of a change from origins.
Yeah as I've said elsewhere I suspect Red Dead Redemption 2 has already affected it as many may not have the time and money for both. Personally im burned out on Ubisoft games having played both Origins and Far Cry 5 and Ubisofts insistence on sharing so many mechanics across it's games and with the best will in the world, on so many of the videos I've seen this looks very similar to Origins to the point of being indistinguishable at times
It's such a gigantic game. I think a lot of people are going to be looking at Red Dead Redemption 2 looming on the horizon and thinking they just won't have time to beat Odyssey.
I also imagine many will be holding Odyssey back as a holiday game, or one to nab when it's on sale after Christmas.
@Rudy_Manchego No Creed next year apparently.
assassin's creed origins sold about 20% digitally last year, not 35%. 680K copies sold in the UK (for all of 2017), of which about 138K were digital. it sold about 100K physical copies at launch last year, but it had a decent run until christmas, especially since black friday as it dropped in price by about £20. i got bored with origins and didn't finish it.. i think i assassin's creed should have ended after ezio's trilogy to be honest.. the game feels like it's been flogged to death to me. black flag could easily have been a different IP unattached to the AC name, and the same can be said for Origins.
Well this is expected I guess...one year after the last AC, the mechanics are mostly the same! But hey, people don't know what they're losing because this one is the superior game
If it does not include digital sales then is showing only half the picture. More and more are buying digital. I would not even consider buying a physical copy of a game anymore unless it was a collectors edition.
I still have to play Origins so if i enjoy that i'll pick up odyssey when it's on sale!
@hotukdeals generally I agree, but a year between installments isn't long enough for it to have a huge impact this time. IMO.
@leucocyte Don't know where you're getting your numbers from, but Ubisoft told investors 35% digital on Origins: https://www.vg247.com/2017/11/07/assassins-creed-origins-sales-up-100-over-syndicate-says-ubisoft/
It just looks like the same game again, but with worse microtransactions
I couldn’t give a toss about Red Dead Redemption 2, but I know Odyssey will be cheaper next year sometime. So I'll just wait until then. In the meantime, I bought Fist of the North Star.
maybee they need a longer grab for people forget the last money grab. i had a shot of it at my friends and Well not mentioned in most of the ffffffffffffffffff reviews is the begging for money its worse than a con mobile game. he is big AC fan and was totaly hacked off with it.
@Rudy_Manchego @Kai_ Repeating this every article on the game: the micro transactions are the same as any previous Assassin's Creed game.
Maybe the multiple editions are the reason why it fell off in sales by 26 percent. I know that's the reason why I didn't even bother to buy it. Jim Sterling was completely right about Ubisoft, the moment a spreadsheet is required to decide which version of a single game is worth buying then you're doing something wrong as a video game company.
Hopefully they will move away from these huge open world grind fests and go back to the old style of games. Besides Odyssey is nowhere near as polished as Origins was and the sea battles etc. are worse than Black Flag's, yet all the lemmings are gushing over it.
@get2sammyb Yeah but I think Odyssey in a years time might have done better - especially as we are winding down generations. Then they could have remastered it on PS5!
@Kidfried Not exactly though are they?
Can't say I'm surprised. I won't be picking it up for 6 months. Origins is still too fresh, even if RDR wasn't on the horizon.
Retail is so last gen...
Hmm im not enjoying as much as origins, thr stiry isnt as strong, theres a lot more random lootz rather than upgrading your armor tourself vis animal kills, only blacksmith upgrade but glad the ship combat is back and upgrading ship
It's expected, Origins was a big shift in gameplay from the other games. So a better way to interpret this is to see Origins as an outlier, in the same way Black Flag was. Most franchises have occasional big hits; God of War, the Witcher, Far Cry, and so on.
It's a long game surrounded by other long games. I also think slipping back into annual releases is a bad idea. I imagine people who might be interested in this still have Origins fresh on their minds. I think alternating years with AC and another franchise will help. It shouldn't be all that surprising for Ubisoft. I'd like to get to it myself, I am just working on other games at the moment.
It could be, possibly, that the game looks like DLC to Origins and people want something different than the game they played in the last year.
This is why Assassin’s Creed should take a hiatus... everyone’s burnt out on them! Hell, I didn’t even finish Origins. Even the new direction in gameplay doesn’t keep my interest. Take two, hell, maybe even three or four years off and make something else. Maybe put that team on Beyond Good and Evil 2 so we actually see it get released in this lifetime? 🤷🏻♂️
I can't believe that next-gen will probably be here before the next AC game and they've still not done Japan yet. So much potential there. Maybe it will be cross-gen and match the quality of Black Flag.
@Kidfried were there xp boosters in origins?
@Rudy_Manchego @Kai_ I already thought they were, but you're both absolutely right they weren't. I stand corrected.
How often do you do the battles at sea? I really disliked those parts in Origins, nowhere near as fun as Black Flag's for some reason.
The game looks cool (I didn’t play it yet), but I’m not willing to play another AC so soon, that happens a lot to me with yearly releases.
Ubisoft should’ve release a game like Splinter Cell or Watch Dogs this year, and Odyssey next year.
"franchise fatigue"
Yep
I love AC but im not buying this until some point next year, its entirely too soon for a new game I feel. The yearly releases is what nearly killed the franchise off, every 2 years for a new AC game seems like a perfect schedule.
Ubisoft have made the Assassin's creed game too big now that it's just crammed so full of stuff that it becomes such a slog by the end that people don't want to do it again so soon.
I still haven't picked up Origins, let alone Odyssey. I do want to get it eventually though. The last game in the series I actually played was Black Flag, so feel like I'm ready for another one now.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Becomes the Highest Played in the Series with 33% More Players on Steam Than Last Year - http://www.githyp.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-becomes-the-highest-played-in-the-series-with-33-more-players-on-steam-than-last-year/
@Splat Digital is such a rippoff. 😁
Bought it on release ill buy RDR2 on a sale or maybe never. 😁
@get2sammyb - where in that ubisoft report is it specific to the UK? gamesindustrybiz published the 2017 numbers for the UK about six months back. for the UK, physical discs still dominate AAA game sales (~80% according to gamesindustry) and the digital %'s are lower in general than overall numbers (which probably includes 90% digital copies for PC).
@leucocyte Neither is entirely accurate, though, is it? Different types of games will skew towards retail and digitally differently. Although you're quite right, the ratio I cited for Origins is worldwide, which again means that different nations will have different digital attach rates.
I really this this has nothing to do with the quality of the game. This is purely because of Red Dead
Competing with Redemption?
Perhaps im unique but that does not appeal to me remotely... this, however, has stolen my heart.
@Flaming_Kaiser I found little to get enthusiastic about with RDR2.
Misserable, filthy, depressing. Your character’s a jerk... not for the do gooder gamer.
oh and to all in this thread it is my opinion i like the master assassin' Alexios more than the master assassin Kassandra in assassin's creed odyssey
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