Just a week before its release, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows would support the Steam Deck at launch, which came as a surprise since the plans were initially quite different. We weren't sure whether it would earn Valve's stamp of approval and get the Steam Deck Verified badge or just stick to a ‘Playable’ rating. But it successfully managed to become the first in the franchise to earn the Steam Deck Verified badge.

In fact, during our test, the game proved worthy of its title, holding around 35–40 FPS without any stutters, and while there was a minor water flickering issue at one point, nothing major affected the actual performance of the game. However, despite running smoothly on the Steam Deck, it doesn't seem to have attracted a massive amount of handheld users, as evident from the Steam Deck Top Played chart.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows ranks at number 12 a week after release

Having a Steam Deck badge doesn't necessarily mean the game will attract a large number of players. It simply ensures that those who try it will have a playable experience. We recently saw this with Monster Hunter Wilds, which, despite performing poorly on the Steam Deck, still became one of the top three most-played games on the platform.

Ubisoft's track record with recent Assassin's Creed games hasn't been the best, as the studio has struggled to deliver titles that meet the expectations set by older entries. This could be why many players are hesitant to try the game, as well as the issue of politics. However, this doesn’t seem to reflect the game’s overall situation, as the player count tells a different story.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows reaches 2 million players

Unlike the gloomy situation with Steam Deck users, the game has managed to amass a good number of players on other hardware. Ubisoft initially bragged about the game reaching 1 million players on launch day, and soon after, they announced it had hit 2 million across all platforms, outperforming Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey.

On top of that, concurrent Steam player counts also tell a different story, with the game peaking at over 64,000 players. This surpasses Assassin's Creed Odyssey's 62,000 peak from six years ago, making Shadows Ubisoft's highest concurrent Steam release for the series.

It’s unclear why handheld gamers aren’t diving into the title while other hardware owners, especially PC players, seem to be enjoying it, especially since performance isn't the biggest flaw here. That said, the game appears to be climbing the ranks on Steam Deck as well, having already jumped ahead 58 spots, and as more players see how well it runs on the handheld, it might eventually break into the top 10.

About the Author

Hassam Nasir

Hassam boasts over seven years of professional experience as a dedicated PC hardware reviewer and writer.