In this pictorial illustration, the Ubisoft video game company logo appears on a smartphone.
Igor Golovniov | SOPA photos | LightRocket via Getty Images
London – Ubisoft shares rose on Wednesday after the French video game maker announced that sales of the first week of its new title, Assassin’s Creed, exceeded sales of any other release in the history of the popular series.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the latest installment in the series, was released on November 10, coinciding with the launch of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox consoles. The game follows the story of Ivor, a Vikings striker whose tribe travels across the North Sea to settle in England.
Ubisoft topped the Stoxx 600 pan-European index Monday morning, rising 4.5%. The company said Assassin’s Creed Valhalla also represented its best-selling PC launch ever, thanks to “all-time record” sales on the online game store. Ubisoft has not revealed how many copies of the game have been sold yet.
“The launch is only the beginning and we have solid content plans for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla that will keep players immersed in the Viking saga for a long time to come,” said Julien Laferrière, producer of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, in a statement.
Video games have received a massive boost from the coronavirus pandemic this year, as people spend more time playing indoors. This momentum showed no signs of slowing down as Microsoft and Sony saw strong demand for their Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles.
But it was a tumultuous year for Ubisoft. The company was hit by a sexual misconduct scandal over the summer that resulted in the exit of a number of high-profile executives, including the chief creative officer. Ubisoft subsequently pledged to take action to address deficiencies in its business culture.
