Is Assassin's Creed on the wane? Syndicate retail sales fail to match previous major entries in series

To the surprise of nobody, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate has topped the UK retail chart, but surprisingly its sales numbers have failed to match "any of the other major entries in the famous series", according to the latest data from Chart Track.

Despite the London setting and generally positive reviews, the latest in Ubisoft's adventuring series hasn't quite lit up the UK charts. However, as is sadly always the caveat when it comes to UK chart news, the data doesn't include digital downloads.

Chart Track's summary of this week's chart reads: "It is the second major entry in the Assassin's Creed series not to be developed by Ubisoft Montreal, that honour this time going to Ubisoft Quebec.

"Assassin's Creed: Syndicate surpasses with ease the other non-Ubisoft Montreal-developed title Assassin's Creed: Rogue, but its launch falls short of surpassing any of the other major entries in the famous series."

Rogue was released last year for Xbox 360 and PS3 only. Assassin's Creed: Unity was 2014's "major" title, and was released on PS4 and Xbox One. Unity's release was marred by a litany of bugs and glitches which took Ubisoft a long time to iron out.

This is likely the reason for the slow sales. The question however is whether fans of the series have been turned off by the problems with Unity, are simply playing it safe until they know the game works, or whether the series is beginning to have run its course in the eyes of fans. Undoubtedly AC is an incredibly important part of Ubisoft's catalogue of games, and future titles are certainly in the works.

It could well also be the case that digital download sales elevate the game to Unity, Black Flag or AC3 levels. Long terms sales will indicate what is the case here, but the signs aren't ideal for the future of the series.

For all the latest video game news follow us on Twitter @IBTGamesUK.