Ubisoft: We Didn’t Expect Assassin’s Creed To Be Such A Hit

It's hard to believe that the Assassin's Creed franchise has been around for almost ten years. It seems like only yesterday that we were playing Ubisoft's killing adventure for the first time, learning about the Templars and doing whatever it took to change the course of human history.

To celebrate, Ubisoft has released a new community documentary that looks back on the franchise, and its many accomplishments, including sequels like Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and the forthcoming Assassin's Creed: Origins. But, believe it or not, Ubisoft didn't really expect the series to take off the way it did.

Sebastien Puel, who worked as executive producer on a number of Creed games (like Brotherhood and Black Flag), noted, "We never expected AC to be such a success. We were passionate about history, but not sure it could have a mainstream wide appeal. I remember of the programmers referring to a cool game feature and saying, 'With this one, we will sell one million copies!' We are well past 100 million today."

It's quite a feat. And to add to Puel's quote, creative director for Assassin's Creed: Origins, Jean Guesdon, quipped, "We could feel that AC was 'special'. Internally, like externally, there was a kind of 'aura' around the game. Something that was screaming, 'I'm not a normal videogame. I'm special.' Of course, nobody could have predicted that, 10 years later, our universe would have become what it is now, but the feeling that we were creating something that was huge (even if not fully understood) was definitely there."

The series has seen continuous add-ons over the course of every year. Even last year, with the series taking a year off, we saw the release of The Ezio Chronicles, celebrating three key entries in the franchise in HD remastered form. And each game has continued to sell quite well.

We're happy to see that the momentum is keeping on for Assassin's Creed after all these years, and Origins should continue to follow suit when it releases on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Congrats to Ubisoft on its success, and here's to ten more years of suave kills and bold storytelling.

Watch the mini-documentary above!