Summary
Ubisoftis one of the leading video game companies, acting both as a developer and publisher, with subsidiaries across the world and many well-known games and multi-million-selling franchises such asAssassin’s Creed,Prince of Persia,Rayman, andFar Cry.
The company was founded in 1986 in northwest France as a small sales business but eventually branched into the videogames industry with its first game,Trivial Pursuit. Their second game,Zombi, was a critical and commercial success. Later, with the publishing ofRayman, the studio was put on the world map. Ubisoft games usually perform well financially, making massive profits for the company. What’s most notable about Ubisoft-developed games today is that every triple-A project can involve contributions from as many as ten different studios, with thousands of developers working across the globe.
Updated July 30, 2025, by Vlad Mazanko:Regardless of a player’s personal feelings toward the developer, there’s no denying that Ubisoft is a major player in the video game industry, with its fair share of hits and misses. Following recent games that underperformed (Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora), Ubisoft is finally back on track withAssassin’s Creed Shadowsachieving official success,surpassing 3 million players in its first week. The title is already projected to become one of the bestsellers in the franchise, comparable to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
This list has been revisited to update the sales numbers for better accuracy and to include previously overlooked Ubisoft games that deserve a place among the company’s best-selling titles.
TheAssassin’s Creedseries is one of Ubisoft’s flagship franchises… and it probably would’ve never been made if thePrince of Persiatrilogy didn’t exist. The first game in the series,The Sands of Time, was an incredible title that wowed players upon its arrival.
The smooth nature of the game’s platforming coupled with its great combat made this game an absolute masterpiece that fans still love to this day. Later games in the series might’ve made more questionable design choices, butThe Sands of Timestill stands strong as one of the greatest action platformers ever made.
The combat inFor Honorwas the biggest draw of the game, and the fact that players could duel online by experimenting around with this combat system certainly helped. The initial reception to this game was fairly muted, but this impression became more and more positive over time. According to the latest official intel, the game has attractedover 35 million playerssince launch, potentially indicating at least 8 to 10 million copies sold.
A difficult and original combat system is hard to pull off, but Ubisoft has managed to take major steps in this department. Instead of developing a sequel, the company decided to focus on long-termFor Honorsupport, resulting in new content updates being released for the game to this day, more than eight years after launch.
The originalAssassin’s Creedmight not be the series' best seller, but over the years, it has amassed impressive sales numbers. Initially launched on Xbox 360 and PS3, the game later arrived on PC, drawing interest from fans of the franchise’s later entries who wanted to revisit the title that started it all. While not as iconic as its Ezio-led sequels,Assassin’s Creedstands out for its unique setting, atmospheric world, and intricate story.
According to available data,Assassin’s Creed’s total sales are estimated to be behind its acclaimed sequels, but not by much. By 2010, thegame had sold 8 million copies, so it’s reasonable to assume that over the years, it has surpassed 9 million, with some optimistic estimates suggesting it may have even exceeded 10 million. Either way, the original title remains one of the stronger-selling entries in the long-running franchise.
After its time in the spotlight, people started getting tired of the yearlyAssassin’s Creedreleases. The games simply didn’t have that draw anymore, and the popularity of the franchise was hit even harder with the buggy launch ofAssassin’s Creed Unity.
However, over time, the reception towardsAssassin’s Creed Unityhas certainly eased up a bit, especially since Ubisoft has worked hard to quickly patch up all the title’s technical issues. Players have finally started appreciating the strong points of this title, leading toa rise in salesand helping it become one of the best-sellingAssassin’s Creedgames of all time.
Following the success of the first game, Ubisoft’s executives decided to create a franchise like its other games. Pre-orders forWatch Dogs 2were low, which led Ubisoft to reduce sales projections for the game, although its CEO was still confident in the game, and believed it would be a financial success.
The sales of the game were rather slow at first, but eventually ended up being prettysimilar to that of the original game, as was its critical reception. To this day, the cumulative sales numbers are believed to be somewhere near the 10-11 million mark. All that led to the third entry in the series, calledWatch Dogs: Legion.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlandswas released in 2017 as the tenth installment in Tom Clancy’s franchise, and as the first game in the series to feature an open-world environment. The game’s beta version attracted more than six million players, which was at the time an indication of the good commercial performance of the game.
When released, the game wasone of the biggest launchesin the year of its publishing. It became the second fastest-selling game in the series, while simultaneously being the best-selling game in the United Kingdom and the United States in the month of its release.
The indications for the strong commercial performance ofWatch Dogscame before the game was even released. It was the most pre-ordered new intellectual property and most pre-ordered game for the eighth generation of consoles. This culminated in the game being the most pre-ordered game of the year with 800,000 copies.
Initially, the company’s executives expected the game to sell more than a million copies. The expectations were met and after the first week, four million copies of the game were sold. In a report later handed to the public, Ubisoft confirmed that the game had soldmore than 9 million copiesas of 2014, so we can safely assume that this number has increased over the past years.
Assassin’s Creed Originsis the tenth major installment in the series, this time set in Ancient Egypt.Assassin’s Creedgames always sold well,Assasin’s Creed Originsis no exception. Upon release, the game was a best-selling entry in the United Kingdom, andsold over 1.5 million units at retailworldwide during the first week, while in the United States onlyMiddle-earth: Shadow of Warsold better.
The game’s sales later totaled over 10 million, proving that the franchise is still a safe and successful business. Since the game was four years in development, and at a peak had a production staff of 1,000 people, that is not really a surprise.
As with many otherTom Clancy’sgames,The Division 2also had strong sales, although less than the previous entry. The game was number one in terms of sales in the United Kingdom, while it also topped the PlayStation 4 download charts. In other markets and formats, the sales were equally strong.
Although the game soldmore than 10 million copies, Ubisoft later stated that it was below their expectations, and, as a reason for failure, noted the increased competition in the genre as the main factor. Since the game was published in 2019, there has been a strong indication that its lifetime sales will increase, but the company hasn’t revealed the exact numbers.
While not as successful asFar Cry 5and with a mixed reception among players and critics,Far Cry 6still turned out to be a success for Ubisoft,generating over $300 millionin net bookings in the first month. The company mentioned that the game’searly sales were"in line withAssassin’s Creed Odyssey’s solid performance," a game that has sold over 12 million copies to date.
Later, Ubisoft confirmed thatFar Cry 6sold over 10 million copies during its first fiscal year. While this number might not be the highest for one of the company’s longest-running and biggest franchises, it indicates that the brand’s strong reputation can guarantee success in the gaming market.
