Assassin’s Creed Shadows leads the nominations for the 2026 Canadian Game Awards, making Ubisoft’s feudal Japan action game the most-nominated title this year. This comes after its launch on March 20, 2025, which faced multiple high-profile delays and debuted into a crowded and skeptical environment.
The Canadian Game Awards revealed a new venue for the 2026 ceremony, showcasing the event’s growth as a platform for celebrating local game development. Canada’s gaming industry employs tens of thousands across studios in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton. This gives the awards real significance in the country’s development community.
Shadows’ position at the top of the nominations is a mixed blessing for Ubisoft. The game currently has a Steam listing price of $0.99, a dramatic discount that highlights the commercial pressure Ubisoft has faced since launch. The company admitted earlier this year that sales figures for Shadows fell short of expectations. The discount pricing has become a common topic among players monitoring the game’s post-launch journey.
This nomination boost coincides with Ubisoft’s confirmation of a PS5 Pro PSSR 2 patch for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, according to Eteknix’s report on the patch release date. Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaling technology is a key feature for Pro-targeted updates. Ubisoft’s push for the patch indicates that the studio is still focusing on the game’s technical aspects despite its lackluster sales.
Whether this recognition at the awards will lead to a boost in sales is uncertain. The Canadian Game Awards hold credibility in the industry, but community sentiment for Shadows heading into the ceremony is largely negative. This complicates the PR narrative Ubisoft likely wants to create around any potential wins, as CGM Magazine’s coverage of the nominations indicates.
| Release Date | March 20, 2025 |
| Developer | Ubisoft |
| Current Steam Price | $0.99 |
| CGA 2026 Nominations | Leads all nominees |
| Community Sentiment | Mostly negative (10 signals) |
Community feedback on Steam remains harsh. One reviewer stated: “Avoid. If you aim for 100% completions, be ready to spend $90 USD on DLC to earn the last achievement.” This frustration highlights a widespread concern players have regarding Ubisoft’s post-launch monetization approach. Similar complaints appear frequently in reviews, indicating it’s a systemic issue rather than an isolated one.
What To Watch
- Whether Assassin’s Creed Shadows can turn its Canadian Game Awards nominations into actual wins, and how Ubisoft might leverage any awards in its ongoing marketing efforts for the game.
- The impact of the PS5 Pro PSSR 2 patch on player counts and Steam review sentiment. Technical improvements can change community perception, but rarely overturn entrenched monetization issues.
- The announcement of the Canadian Game Awards’ new venue and whether the event’s growing prominence will draw more mainstream attention to Canadian-developed titles beyond those from major studios like Ubisoft.
