adminAssassin’s Creed Odyssey daily active users rose sharply after Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey film premiered on July 17. Figures from several analytics firms point to a broad increase in player engagement across PC and consoles, with subscription access and renewed interest in the franchise likely contributing to the rise.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey daily active users climb after the film
Alinea Analytics reported that daily active users across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox rose by about 90%. The combined figure increased from 122,000 on the film’s opening day to 233,000 within ten days—roughly 1.8 times the pre-premiere level.
Xbox recorded the largest platform increase in that data, climbing 134% from 36,000 to 84,000 daily active users. PlayStation nearly doubled to 114,000, while Steam rose by 26%. These figures show that the increase was not limited to a single platform.
Practical context: Daily active users measure engagement, not sales. A player returning to a game they already own can raise the DAU count without generating a new purchase.
Subscription access and returning players may explain the rise
Alinea Analytics market analysis head Rhys Elliott linked the console increases in part to subscription services. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is available through Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, giving subscribers a way to play without buying a new copy.
Video Game Insights (VGI) reported a similar upward trend, with combined daily active users rising from more than 150,000 on the film’s premiere date to 238,000 by July 26. Elliott noted that sales remained comparatively modest at around 400,000 copies year-to-date, while the more notable change was the number of people playing again. He said the renewed engagement could be relevant to Ubisoft if it considers a future AC Odyssey Resynced.
Because the game has sold in large numbers since 2018, a sizeable pool of former players may be able to return without making a new purchase. This is especially relevant on Xbox, where Game Pass removes the purchase step for subscribers.
Two engagement peaks appear in Newzoo data
Newzoo recorded two daily active user peaks, eight days apart. The first came around the July 17 premiere, when engagement rose 49% in 24 hours across the three platforms. The second occurred on July 25, when PlayStation Store reduced the prices of the Deluxe and Gold editions by 28%.
Newzoo director of market intelligence Manu Rosier said the simultaneous movement across platforms on July 17 suggests a broad demand shift rather than a price-driven change. PlayStation then pulled ahead after the sale began, while Steam—which had no corresponding discount—also increased substantially compared with its June baseline.
Rosier cautioned that the figures combine different kinds of activity: new buyers and returning owners. A discount may encourage some purchases, but it does not explain players reinstalling a game they already own. Newzoo measured Odyssey at 2.6 times its June level during the opening week and 4.1 times that level after the discount began. Other Assassin’s Creed games were around 1.4 times their June levels, suggesting a wider franchise effect alongside a stronger response for the title set in ancient Greece.
How to interpret the numbers: The analytics firms use separate datasets and reporting periods, so their totals and multipliers are not directly interchangeable. Together, however, they indicate a notable rise in engagement after the premiere.
Film and television releases can renew interest in games
Similar engagement increases have followed screen adaptations of other game franchises. After the first season of Prime’s Fallout series premiered, daily active users for Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 increased by 225% in the following weeks. VGI also reported renewed activity for Fallout: New Vegas and growth for Fallout 4 after the show’s second season premiered.
On Steam, concurrent players for the Fallout games doubled after the series debut, rising from an average of 20,000 to more than 40,000. These examples illustrate how a screen release can bring both new audiences and lapsed players back to a game.
What the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey DAU surge means
The available data suggests that the film’s release coincided with a substantial increase in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey engagement, while subscription availability and a later PlayStation sale may also have influenced player activity. The figures do not establish that one factor alone caused the rise, but they show how entertainment releases can renew attention for established games. For players deciding whether to return, subscription access or a sale may affect how they access the game; for readers interpreting the trend, DAU should be considered separately from sales.
Image credit: Ubisoft
Newzoo chart image credit: Newzoo
