In a recent earnings call, Ubisoft described the successful reception of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, referring to the game as the “biggest Assassin’s Creed game launch in history,” and confirmed that it will “benefit from a stronger and longer post-launch programme” than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Ubisoft’s Frederick Duguet said “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was the “biggest Assassin’s Creed game launch in history,” as well as “the second best-selling title on new-gen” consoles. Duguet later expands upon this: when asked how Valhalla compares to the launch of Assassin’s Creed 3, he answered, “on the Assassin’s Creed franchise in terms of unit count at the end of December, Assassin’s Creed 3 is still the biggest launch but in value, clearly, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the biggest launch ever for the franchise.”
Ubisoft intends to expound on this success and to “maintain this momentum with a significantly longer and stronger post-launch content roadmap” — what’s interesting is that this was confirmed to be a "stronger and longer post-launch programme than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.”
Along with 11 free DLC episodes, all of which were grouped together as The Lost Tales of Greece, and the two free short quests which had you defeat Steropes the Lightning Bringer and Arges the Bright One, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had two major paid expansions, each of which was made up of three episodes: Legacy of the First Blade, and the Fate of Atlantis. The Lost Tales of Greece and the free Mythical Beasts quests were relatively short but going off the estimated times for the AC Odyssey DLC, the paid DLC takes around 33 hours — that’s just to complete it, not taking into account all the extra wandering around you’re bound to do when you play Odyssey.
Overall, that’s 11 free episodes, two free quests, and two major expansions — quite a lot, especially considering that Valhalla could have even more. We already know a fair bit of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla post-launch and Season Pass content. Like with Odyssey, we’re getting two major expansions: Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris. Wrath of the Druids is set to launch this spring, taking us to Ireland to investigate an ancient druid cult called the Children of Danu. Wrath of the Druids also brings a new style of gameplay with the challenge of defeating ring forts and interfering in Dublin’s trading system. The Siege of Paris is set to launch early this summer 2021. We’ll be heading to Francia and going up against historical figures like Charles the Fat in an effort to conquer Paris from within. The Siege of Paris also brings new repayable activities, like raids on Charles the Fat’s elite units.
Also like Odyssey, Valhalla will get regular free content for all players. To start with, there are four pieces of free content set to arrive in the game’s first year. One of these has already been and gone — the Yule Festival started at the end of last year and brought themed festivities to Ravensthorpe. The next piece of free content is set to arrive this month, adding the new River Raid game mode, three replayable maps, the new Jomsviking Hall to build in your settlement, and more. That’s four bits of new content for Valhalla so far. It’s not yet clear in what way Valhalla’s post-launch content will be “stronger and longer” than Odyssey — whether it means more paid expansions or more free content — but either way, it seems we could expect even more from Valhalla than Odyssey’s 11 free episodes, two free quests, and two major expansions.