Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise hasn’t seen a massive hit in several years and even last year’s hugely ambitious Assassin’s Creed Shadows wasn’t quite the worldwide blockbuster as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Valhalla. But it seems this year’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is all set to take the franchise at the top of the charts once again as it’s launch sales projections already look to be a huge improvement over Shadows, and could easily turn out to be the surefire hit Ubisoft needs right now.
According to Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics, Steam pre-orders for Black Flag Resynced are already 5.39 times higher than those for Shadows, which means the upcoming remake has already surpassed the total lifetime sales of Skull and Bones, Ubisoft’s 2024 pirate-flavored title. Elliot has stated that so far, Resynced is shaping up to be a “much-needed hit for Ubisoft” after last year’s Shadows which came out with mixed critical response and hot off the heels of layoffs and studio closures by Ubisoft.
He also said that Shadows has sold 5.7 million copies so far where around 1.3 million were from PC and the rest came from the consoles.
“Black Flag Resynced is a timely strategy for a struggling Ubisoft,” Elliot said. “After a turbulent few years of costly development, delays, and high-profile misses (ironically including Skull & Bones, which spun out of Black Flag’s own naval tech), Ubisoft is dealing with fractured pipelines. Building an unproven new IP from scratch is a six-to-eight-year gamble costing hundreds of millions.
“High-fidelity remakes of beloved legacy titles are the low-risk alternative – and one Ubi hasn’t really leveraged much yet. Such remakes reuse a universally praised design blueprint, lowering creative risk while guaranteeing a built-in audience.”
The hotly anticipated remake of the classic 2013 title features a heavily reworked combat system since the original would feel terribly out-of-place in the current-day era of gaming in more ways than one. The new combat mechanics feels a whole lot more fluid and smoother while also featuring a more intuitive HUD with two mini-menus in each bottom corner which allows for seamless switching between the different types of weapons and items.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is scheduled to release tomorrow.
