An expensive Japanese blockbuster: Assassin's Creed Shadows cost Ubisoft over €100 million

In case anyone had any doubts, it's now official: Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has personally confirmed that the development of their latest blockbuster, Assassin's Creed Shadows, cost the company at least €100 million (about $116 million). At first glance, this amount does not look too dramatic compared to the budgets of other modern gaming giants. However, as it turned out, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

Here's What We Know

"We don't disclose production costs," said the publisher's CEO at a recent financial meeting, before adding that "it cost over €100 million, we will say that." Guillemot also noted that the company is "not providing any final costs" and has "invested heavily in the engine" used to create Assassin's Creed Shadows, which likely also inflated its budget.

In any case, the €100 million figure is only an estimate. Leaks from Insomniac Games have revealed that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had a mega-budget of over $300 million, while we also know from leaked documents that The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon: Forbidden West cost over $200 million each.

Given these figures, and given the incredibly long, two-hour running time of Assassin's Creed Shadows, we can assume that the open-world game's budget probably exceeded the $100 million mark. This confirms the trend of rising costs for the development of AAA games.

Despite the high costs, Japanese Assassin's Creed seems to have performed quite well. The company has previously called the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows a "defining moment" that confirmed how strong the series can be. The game has reportedly surpassed Assassin's Creed Odyssey in terms of sales and player numbers at this stage of their respective lifecycles.

This shows that, despite the huge investment, Assassin's Creed Shadows has been able to attract an audience and continue the successful history of the franchise.

Were you surprised by such a high budget for Assassin's Creed Shadows? Do you think such huge expenses for the development of modern blockbusters are justified?