Why Lack of Transparency Hurts the Industry: The Success of Black Flag Resynced in the Context of Historical Assassin’s Creed Sales

The launch of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has become one of the most successful in the franchise's recent history. In the latest report, there are plenty of figures and charts about the game’s results, contextual comparisons with the franchise’s historical sales, as well as reflections on Ubisoft's tendency towards vague terminology and distorted metrics.

Launch of the Black Flag Remake: Wishlists, Pre-orders, and Launch Sales

By its release on July 9, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced accumulated approximately 1.2–1.4 million wishlists on Steam, securing the 12th spot among the most anticipated releases on the platform. For comparison, last year’s Shadows was only ranked 37th before its sales began.

The significant interest in the Black Flag remake is also evidenced by the pre-orders, which opened in late April. How these were distributed across platforms remains unknown, but the game spent a total of 10 weeks on the Steam weekly chart. On July 14, it climbed to second place overall, trailing only to Counter-Strike 2 in terms of gross revenue.

When comparing the pre-orders for Black Flag Resynced with other major releases of 2026, only Resident Evil Requiem and Forza Horizon 6 performed better. The former stayed in the chart for eight consecutive weeks before release and then remained in the top 100 for an additional 18 weeks. Pre-orders for Playground Games' racing title were even more vigorous — 18 weeks in a row (including the post-release period, FH6 hasn’t left the Steam chart for 25 weeks now).

Positions of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced pre-orders in the Steam weekly chart compared to other major releases of 2026 (data adjusted by weeks from the initial appearance in the top 100)