Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: 'Biggest entry in our biggest series'

Brand manager on the future of the cut-throat franchise...

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With the acclaim you've already received for multiplayer, does Ubisoft no longer consider Assassin's a single-player-only franchise?

I think Assassin's Creed is well known foremost for its single player. It's about the story, the master assassin, the open world and all the cool environments. It's something that will always be strong in our core pillars; I can never see this franchise move away from that core element.

For consumers the story is very important along with the character. I'd be surprised if we move towards online more but that doesn't mean the online won't evolve and get more exciting. We're going to listen to feedback from consumers but the answer is no, we're not going to move away from our single-player core.

How ambitious are your cross media plans? AC2 had the Lineage short film...


We're looking at different opportunities...

So there is still stuff to talk about on that front?

Yes. We do have elements that are in the works and are evaluated all the time. This is the case for all our franchises. Cross media is become more and more important in the industry and as you get bigger as an IP there's more interest in finding new ways to build a brand. So it's very important to Ubisoft and we even have different departments working on that but I don't have a view on everything.

As a brand becomes bigger and bigger I think it's a good way to attract new consumer to the franchise. Our game will always be the major platform where we'll pull consumers towards. To find different ways to talk to people and get AC into the mind of the people will definitely help us to sell the main game. It's a strategy that every company tries and we want to find new ways to attract new consumers. Cross media is a method we're investigating.

A lot of fans might be concerned about Patrice Desilet's departure [Note: He's since joined THQ]. Can you assure fans that all's well on the Assassin's team?

The core members for Brotherhood are the same as those in Assassin's Creed 2. Every decision is a team decision. Patrice was a key member of a team and a good friend and his decision to leave is unfortunate for us but we're happy for him.

For Brotherhood it doesn't really have a big impact since the creative decisions were made way before this. These decisions are always coming out from different conversations with different people, for example our game director Patrick Plourde has been very involved from the beginning on all the decisions. Our script writers have been very involved as well. All the leads on the project are working together.

It's not only one person that drives the entire ship, it's a team and the core team remains the same on Brotherhood. Some core members will always stay on Assassin's Creed and we're adding new people as we get bigger. We have a strong vision for the future of the brand and are confident.

As far as Patrice departing goes, is his work done? Has he left a future and an ending for you to work towards?

That's something I can't talk about yet. Assassin's Creed has so much opportunity to evolve in different directions, that's the beauty of our franchise. The way that the story is structured, the interaction between present and past opens so many opportunities for where the evolution of the story could go. In terms of the present time story, a lot will happen in Brotherhood so who knows what could happen...

We hear the ending's a bitch...

Our scriptwriters love to end on a cliffhanger ending to surprise people; I think they'll do the same in this game. We like to surprise and shock the consumers and I think it's going to be the same with this game. People will be excited to play up to the end.

Any last thoughts for our readers?

Brotherhood is a game that fans will love but if you've never played the franchise before you can really get into it and play without feeling you missed a lot. The way that the story has been designed presents the most important information, so that new player can learn to manage and control the game. It's a game we're hoping to welcome new fans with and please old ones.

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