Contextual Studies Essay

Chris Burns Contextual Studies CDM Lvl 4
Page | 1
ASSASSIN’SCREED FRANCHISE
In modern day Assassin’s Creed is well known by gamers as one of Ubisofts biggest franchises
(giantbomb.com, 2016) but it didn’t start that way, it grew to be the franchise everyone knows it to be
through many trials and tribulations and from humble beginnings expanding a team of people with
various religious beliefs and multicultural backgrounds and bringing them together to create a true work
of art.
Assassin’s Creed began its life as an entirely different Intellectual Property (IP) altogether with the basis
for the game being created as part of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series, the game in question was
due to be called Prince of Persia: Assassin where instead of playing the iconic Persian Prince you were
due to play an Assassin who had been tasked to protect him along with the setting of the game being in
12th
century Middle East. As Prince of Persia: Assassin took shape and more of the game had developed it
turned out that what they had created was more of its own game than a new Prince of Persia game and so
was rebranded its own IP called Assassin’s Creed. Many gamers might not know that the assassin order
as well as the creeds maxim “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” were inspired by the 11th
century
Hashshashin assassins,who were a secret order of Shiite Muslims known as religious warriors of their
time who fought Christians and other Muslims for power. It is this historical basis that set aside the
beginning of this new franchise and a dedication that continued throughout the rest of the games.
(makeuseof.com, no date)
Assassin’s Creed was a very popular game when it was released selling over 2.5 million units in its first
month (youtube.com, no date) and gaining widespread applause from across the globe being given a 7.5
out of 10 as its lowest score and a high of 9.4 out of 10 (gamerankings.com, 2016), while Metacritic.com
(2016) gave it an 81 out of 100 from professional game reviewers and a 7.7 out of 10 from actual players.
This popularity kept climbing as Ubisoft.com (2014) reported Assassin’s Creed sold over 6 million units

Page | 2
during its 2007-2008 financial year. Not only did it reach very high popularity with reviewers and gamers
alike but it was also nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards (imdb.com, 1990-2016), 1 Game Audio Network
Guild Award (audiogang.org, 2016), 4 Game Critics’ Awards (gamecriticsawards.com,no date), 2 Game
Developers Choice Awards (gamechoiceawards.com,2016), 1 Golden Trailer Award and 1 Visual Effects
Society Award but only managed to win Best Action/Adventure Game at the Game Critics’ Awards 2006.
Even though the game itself did not manage to win many of the awards it was nominated for, just being
nominated was an exceptional accomplishment for the entire development team and due to this success
Assassin’s Creed II was born with a new main character to play and a different time period completely.
Assassin’s Creed II introduces us to Ezio Auditore, our main character,15th
& 16th
century Italy at the
height of the Renaissance as well as the cities of Florence, Venice,Tuscany and Forli. As with the first
game Assassin’s Creed II became highly popular among players selling more than 10 million units during
its lifetime (vgchartz.com, 2006-2016) and being nominated for an outstanding 35 awards among varying
categories winning only 3 of them (imdb.com, 1990-2016).
What Assassin’s Creed II did was create the foundation for a trilogy whereby we see Ezio returning in
another 2 instalments, Assassin’s Creed:Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed:Revelations. Through these
games we follow the life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (to give him his full name) as he journeys through
different landscapes and sceneries and each game brings something different to the table. Although it isn’t
named it Assassin’s Creed:Brotherhood is the 3rd
major game of the franchise and allows you to
command a network of Assassin’s to help you through the story as well as send them on missions to
increase their experience and make them better assassins while Revelations, the 4th
game of the franchise,
expands upon some of the additional content from Brotherhood as well as unravels even more of the story
of the assassin’s during the early period and modern day. Unfortunately, Brotherhood didn’t fair as well
as its predecessor,selling more than 6 million units, while revelations managed to sell over 8 million units
(vgchartz.com, 2006-2016) even though both games were nominated for numerous awards. Brotherhoods
downfall seemed to be in the environment for the game as well as the A.I used for the assassin recruits

Page | 3
while a lot of people enjoyed the new tool introduced in Revelations, the hook blade (forums.ubi.com, no
date). By simply adding a new item and expanding on some the content from the previous game Ubisoft
managed to create a best seller and it is a recipe that has served them well as each Assassin’s Creed game
brings new elements into the mix, whether it is a new weapon, environment, playable character or
storyline, there is always something new, exciting and different to each game.
After Revelations, and the finale to the Ezio trilogy, Assassin’s Creed III was created and once again this
game showcased a new playable character,new time period, new environment and new additions to the
already massive Assassin’s Creed arsenal. In III you play as Connor, or as he is known in his native
tongue Ratonhnhaké:ton, who is part of the local Native American tribe until a group of Templars attack
his village in a bid to seize control of the surrounding area,after which is led to an assassin known as
Achilles who begins to train him in the ways of the order so that he can fight the Templars and avenge his
people. The new content brought about is this game is the ability to hunt animals and the naval conflict
minigame in which you can clear trade routes to sell your catch. Assassin’s Creed III is the second most
popular game to be created by Ubisoft yet with over 11 million units sold (vgchartz.com, 2006-2016) yet
only managed 15 nominations at severalawards ceremonies with no wins (imdb.com, 1990-2016). It
appears that the players enjoyed the game more than the critics.
The next major instalment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, an
almost completely naval game whereby you are the main character Edward Kenway who is an assassin
and a pirate, and you follow his story through open oceans with intermittent visits to dry land. Black Flag
was the first Assassin’s Creed game to utilise full naval warfare as part of its story arc which had been
capitalized from the previous game. This capitalization ensured Black Flag took first place at the top of
the franchises best-selling game list with a record 12 million units sold (vgchartz.com, 2006-2016) but
still only 12 nominations in various categories with no wins (imdb.com, 1990-2016). As Black Flag had
been launched on old-gen consoles as well as new-gen consoles it had to battle with other games of its era

Page | 4
such as Bioshock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, Tomb Raider and Saints Row IV, which made it difficult
to compete for top spot at the awards.
The Saga continued with 2 new releases,one for old-gen consoles like the Xbox 360 and one for new-gen
consoles like the Xbox One, and they were Assassin’s Creed:Rogue (360) & Assassin’s Creed Unity
(One). Just like their predecessors Rogue and Unity offered new environments to explore, a new yet
continued storyline of assassin’s both past and present, new skills, new weapons and new playable
characters. Rogue places you in the life of Shay McCormac,an assassin turned Templar who vows to
fight the assassin order because of their mishandling of the game’s most powerful weapon, the Pieces of
Eden. Rogue also takes elements of Black Flag with most of the gameplay being on the open ocean. Unity
however has an alternative setting, placing you in Paris during the French Revolution and giving you the
playable character Arno Dorian and is the first Assassin’s Creed game to include a 4-player co-op in the
main story campaign where players can jump in and out of your game as you play, either helping or
hindering depending on their motives. Unity had also been planned to originally release a few weeks prior
to Rogue but had been delayed due to the development teams “fine polishing” of the next-gen game
(cinemablend.com, no date), but there has been speculation as to whether this is true or not or whether
Ubisoft did it purposefully so as not to upset the players who could only afford an old-gen console
(gamefaqs.com,2016). Combined the sales of both Unity and Rogue managed to top more than 10
million units yet Rogue never managed any award nominations, unlike Unity, which managed to accrue 5
nominations and 1 win making it the favourite of the two.
Although Unity seemed to be the favourite it seemed to leave a sour taste in the mouths of many a gamer
when Ubisoft released its new, next-gen console game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate as Syndicates’ first
week of sales were worse than Ubisoft had planned. The reason sales were so poor is due to the high
number of bugs and poor performance of its predecessor Unity (Phillips, T.,2015) causing gamers to be
sceptical about purchasing the new release. Syndicate did however manage to pull the figures back in the
following week surpassing that of Unity and the CEO of Ubisoft believes that this was due to positive

Page | 5
word of mouth by the franchises fans and gamers alike. Due to its recent release date there are no final
sales figures for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate but since its release on Octobers 23, 2015 it has sold more
than 4 million units and has received 7 award nominations.
Although all games, except one, Assassin’s Creed Rogue, is the proud owner of severalnominations, only
a select few have the honour and bragging rights to say that they won an award. This must mean that the
games had a direct influence on the mass media to be considered for the nominations yet didn’t influence
them enough to score many wins. Metacritic.com (2016) gives each of the major titles in the Assassin’s
Creed franchise a relatively high score with the lowest being a 70 for Assassin’s Creed Unity, meaning
that this game was not highly received by the audience as the other games were but still accounted
towards the success of the franchise and boosted the overall sales to more than 80 million units.
These titles are known as the major titles for Assassin’s Creed although due to the success of the games
many spin-offs, DLC’s and alternative games for other consoles such as Nintendo DS or PS Vita were
developed. Not only did the success of the major titles spawn extra games they gave birth to short films,
books, comics, game guides, art books and more. The books created became a reflection of the story of
the games and each book was created after a specific game, the first being Assassin’s Creed Renaissance,
written and based on Assassin’s Creed II (Bowden,O., 2009) and most of the books followed in the same
manor except Assassins Creed Revelations and Forsaken, which had been created as their own novels
instead of based on a certain game. The comic books inception into the Assassin’s Creed franchise came
about when Titan Comics acquired the licence and worked with Ubisoft to expand on their already
monumental archive of Assassin’s Creed richness (Osborn, A., 2015). The comic books would allow the
illustrators to accommodate new characters in new storylines and new settings that would help them to
stand out of the colossal shadow that is the major game titles.
Another book created for this ever expanding franchise is the artworks of Assassin’s Creed as well as the
game guides. Most games nowadays more often than not have a guide that helps the player achieve a

Page | 6
specific goal, whether that is to beat a mission that is proving to difficult or collect all those in-game
collectibles that just seem to be too hard to find. However, Assassin’s Creed guides not only come with
step-by-step walkthroughs of the games’ inner-most secrets but they also come with rich Assassin’s
Creed history, character bios, beautifully stunning artwork and in some cases some treats for what is to
come (Bogenn, T. & Murray, W., 2015). By utilising the games guides in such a way the creators are able
to bring the player even further into the Assassin’s Creed world, hooking them and adding another player
to their ever-expanding list of loyal followers.
This is what Assassin’s Creed and the development team at Ubisoft seem to do best and it is why it has
grown to one of the most popular game franchises to date. The team at Ubisoft not only design, develop
and market their product they also build a relationship with the people that consume that product, the
players. Utilising the use of social media as well as other forms of media, Ubisoft is able to directly link
with each and every person that either has or will ever buy their product. They have created a blog site,
aptly named as blog.ubi.com, where they post news, articles, videos, previews, basically anything they
want to capture the audience’s attention, and after each blog post the user has the ability to comment of
the what they have read or seen. This turns the consumer from a passive participant to an active
participant and is very effective at keeping the consumer where Ubisoft wants them, which in turn
generates sales allowing Ubisoft to continue creating a new Assassin’s Creed game every year. The
success of the game prior to a new release and how it was received by the audience will either spark a
change in design, whereby a game is built from scratch from the ground upwards, or is adapted from an
already finished version, which can incorporate elements from its predecessors or add new elements to the
game in a bid to try and create something new.
There are a few theories and responses in which to look at when it comes to how Assassin’s Creed has
become the franchise it is today. As previously mentioned the participatory media is one type of an
audience response,which also flows hand-in-hand with the uses and gratification theory, which states that
people have a need to acquire knowledge about a certain subject or consumable. Being an active

Page | 7
participant means that a consumer openly and actively searches for knowledge, in this case for more news
about other Assassin’s Creed information, secrets or memorabilia and by having their own blog and social
media pages Ubisoft has made themselves easy to find for this information. This allows players to build
up a relationship with Ubisoft and the development team and increases the need for more, which in turn
Ubisoft gives by releasing another product. This self-gratification can come at a price however; in which
a consumer could go to extraordinary lengths to find the information they desire. This is done through the
use of hacking, and in the information age hacking is becoming more and more a source for which people
ascertain their knowledge. The knowledge that hackers can uncover could only be small fragments of a
bigger puzzle, and fragments that a company might not want to release to the public, but they in turn can
choose to distribute it through online network channels giving consumers partially or wholly false
information, which could cause a negative reception on future media products.
The back and forth between developer and consumer could be deemed very similar to another type of
audience theory, known as the Two Step Flow Theory, where a wider audience is reached not by the
marketing strategies of the company but that of other people, known as opinion leaders. These leaders
gain insight and knowledge from the messages distributed by media and they pass on this message to
others. This media theory again reaffirms the relationship needed for companies to sell their products to a
wider market because the trust is being built by the opinion leaders instead of a direct influence on the
mass market. As previously mentioned, if this information that is being directed from an opinion leader
includes false information then the Two Step Flow of mass communication will have an even bigger
negative impact on how a media product is received. This negativity could cause a major loss to not only
people financially but also to the companies that designed and created the media product.
In order for these theories to take effect and help Ubisoft achieve the status it has with Assassin’s Creed
there needs to be a cultural competence, an ability to understand what is being delivered, if consumers are
to interpret the given message. Cultural competency can span from being able to understand the given
language to interpreting signs and symbols. The symbol that has been worn by every Assassin’s Creed

Page | 8
product is the “Assassin’s logo” (see appendix a). This symbol is known to everyone as being a part of
the Assassin’s Creed franchise,gaining in popularity as the years progressed from the birth of the
franchise back in 2007. This symbol is as important in the franchise now as the parkour mechanics used
in the gameplay and without it there would be no causallink to the assassins franchise, the product would
just be a completely new IP. The logo could also be adapted for new games including a new aspect such
as a skull for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or a watermarked effect for Assassin’s Creed Unity (see
appendix b). Other logos that people would assimilate with the Assassin’s Creed franchise is that of the
assassins’ shawl, which is the hood pulled far enough over the forehead to cover the eyes from anyone
watching yet still giving plenty of visibility to the assassin. The iconic shawl in the franchise is that of the
beaked hood, the front of the hood forms the shape of a beak similar to that of an eagle, which is
reinforced by using an eagle at viewpoints in the game where you can view and synchronise your
surroundings. The reason an eagle is used is because it is associated with freedom and this is what the
assassins fight for so each little element such as this in each game reaffirms the point of the assassin order,
to fight for freedom.
One of the major types of audience responses to one of Ubisofts most explosive IP’s is the creation of its
fan culture. If a game becomes so popular with the mass audience a fan culture undoubtedly is created
and Assassin’s Creed is no exception. One item of Assassin’s Creeds fan culture is the activity of rapidly
navigating an urban environment utilising the quickest possible route, also known as parkour. Parkour is a
gameplay mechanic inserted into every Assassin’s Creed game and with the evolution of the games onto
next-gen consoles, the parkour mechanic was able to be enhanced as well. Although parkour had been
around for years before Assassin’s Creed,the game, along with the Prince of Persia series, brought
parkour into the limelight. Other media created from Assassin’s Creed is fan made short films such as The
Devils Spear, a short film created by CorridorDigital for the, now released, Assassin’s Creed IV:Black
Flag game (Reeves,B., 2013). Other fan made media creations includes videos of consumers living out
their assassin fantasies by free running over structures. There are many videos of people, mostly

Page | 9
professional parkour runners and some amateurs,free running dressed in assassin garbs utilising the same
parkour mechanics that you find in the games (youtube.com, no date). Other videos include more than
one assassin,such as the ones created after the release of Unity, where 4-player co-op was included in the
game (youtube.com, no date). The use of the assassin costume did not just remain in user uploaded videos,
they were also included in cosplays, where fans of the games would dress up in similar apparel to the
playable character of their choosing and attend events such as Eurogamer or ComicCon. The assassins
costume and accessories became another notch in Ubisofts bedpost of products created from their
invention and could be bought as cosplay costumes or as collectibles. Cosplay was also seen as something
that geeks did, dressing up as a character from a film, television episode or game seemed rather taboo and
so not many people did it until it grew in popularity at conventions and expo’s. Thanks to this growth in
popularity cosplay was seen as more of an art form or an escape and it helped consumers to become more
receptive to the idea of dressing up as your favourite character thereby reinforcing a positive point to
anybody and everybody that you are a fan of whatever you are cosplaying. It could also be seen as
another form of marketing.
All of these elements make up both the micro and macro environments for the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Assassin’s Creed fits into both environments with each having their own influence. The Assassin’s Creed
microenvironment consists of the major title games, the minor title games, the short films, the feature
length film currently in production, the comic books, novels and all the memorabilia. Each one listed
above is inherently influenced in some way by another, whether it is the short films being influenced by
the games or the books being influenced by the short films, each element exists as a whole and as a part to
its own. The micro environment is devised between film, game and music and Assassin’s Creed fits quite
well into all three. It is itself a game and from that game a music soundtrack was created that is usually
dispatched along with limited edition orders. Some of the music created for the games received
nominations for awards for their originality as well as for certain instruments used to play them. The film

Page | 10
element was created when the short films were released as a marketing strategy to try and entice people to
play the games or to add more insight into the story being told.
The macro environment for Assassin’s Creed consists of entertainment, recreation and services. The
franchise of Assassin’s Creed was created mainly for the entertainment element as the media is something
we actively consume. You could argue that it also fits into the recreation element due to the games being
created for fun and stemming from them the activity of free running as a hobby. The final element of the
macro environment that Assassin’s Creed might not fit all too well into is the services element due to the
franchise not being a part of something we are responsible for. It can however affect this element greatly
as work/education, sleep and even relationships can suffer if a consumer becomes too involved in the
product. It is possible for consumers to become addicted to a product, in the same way that a smoker is
addicted to nicotine, but instead of smoking severalcigarettes per day they spend countless hours in front
of the T.v. screen trying to complete the game including all the little extras that the developers have added
to bulk out the hours of play (video-game-addiction.org, no date).
By using these types of responses,theories and environments companies can improve their marketing
strategies to help influence the production and reception of their next product. By creating a video game
and then including an original soundtrack or a collectible figurine along with the purchase, companies are
able to increase sales and profits. These sales and profits would then ultimately influence the production
of new media, whether it is produced or whether it is not. Over the course of its lifetime Assassin’s Creed
has proven this to be the case. Each of the nine major titles had been produced and influenced by the
previous game, whether it was to do with sales of a game or whether it was to do with content, either what
is included or how it is delivered. With the evolution of the internet and consoles, content could be
delivered in newer ways by having downloadable material streamed to your console using online
databases or by using the original disc version. Through this evolution the way relationships are formed
between distributor and consumer have also developed and adapted, again influencing how new products
are created.

Page | 11
Finally, without the creation of the Prince of Persia series Assassin’s Creed could potentially not have
been born so the biggest influence of this franchise would ultimately be the creation of Prince of Persia.
Word Count: 4063
Appendix A – Image of the official Assassin’s Creed logo
Appendix B – Image of the logo used for Assassin’s Creed Unity

Page | 12
References:
Assassinscreed.wikia.com (No Date) Assassin’s Creed Unity – Logo 01.png. Available at:
http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/File:Assassin's_Creed_Unity_-_Logo_01.png – Accessed
21/02/2016
Assassinscreed.wikia.com (No Date) Assassin Insignia.Available at:
http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin_insignia - Accessed 21/02/2016
Audiogang.org (2016) 2008 Awards.Available at:
http://www.audiogang.org/awards/2008-awards/ - Accessed 19/02/2016
Bogenn, T. & Murray, W. (2015) Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Collectors Guide. Penguin Random House
LLC, 6081 East 82nd
Street,Suite #400, Indianapolis, IN 46250
Bowden, O. (2009) Assassin’s Creed Renaissance.Penguin Books ltd, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL
Devinsupertramp (2012) Assassin’s Creed Meets Parkourin Real Life. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhPaiajwDY – Accessed 21/02/2016

Page | 13
Devinsupertramp (2014) Assassin’s Creed Unity Meets Parkour in Real Life - 4K!Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8b1zWOgOKA – Accessed 21/02/2016
Gamechoiceawards.com (2016) 8th
Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Available at:
http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/archive/gdca_8th.html - Accessed 19/02/2016
Gamecriticsawards.com (No Date) 2007 Nominees.Available at:
http://gamecriticsawards.com/2007nominees.html - Accessed 19/02/2016
Gamefaqs.com (2016) Assassin’s Creed Rogue.Available at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/826286-assassins-creed-rogue/70555233 - Accessed 21/02/2016
Gamerankings.com (2016) Available at:
http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/930278-assassins-creed/index.html - Accessed 13/02/2013
Giantbomb.com (2016) Assassin’s Creed. Available at:
http://www.giantbomb.com/assassins-creed/3025-38/games/ - Accessed 01/02/2016
Haas,P. (No Date) Assassin’s Creed Unity NowHas Same Release Date asAssassin’sCreed Rogue.
Available at:
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Assassin-Creed-Unity-Now-Has-Same-Release-Date-Assassin-
Creed-Rogue-66997.html - Accessed 21/02/2016
Imdb.com (1990-2016) Assassin’s Creed Awards.Available at:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0932936/awards?ref_=tt_ql_op_1 – Accessed 18/02/2016
Makeuseof.com (No Date) The True History of Assassin’s Creed. Available at:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/history-assassins-creed/ - Accessed 01/02/2016

Page | 14
Metacritic.com (2016) Assassin’s Creed. Available at:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/assassins-creed - Accessed 13/02/2016
Osborn, A. (2015) Titan Releasing Five-Part Assassin’sCreed Comic.Available at:
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/06/25/titan-releasing-five-part-assassins-creed-comic - Accessed
21/02/2016
Phillips, T. (2015) Assassin’s Creed Syndicate sales “clearly” impacted by Unity.Available at:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-11-05-assassins-creed-syndicate-sales-clearly-impacted-by-unity
- Accessed 13/02/2016
Reeves,B. (2013) Assassin’s Creed IV: The Devil’sSpearShort FilmTrailer. Available at:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/10/14/assassin-39-s-creed-iv-the-devil-39-s-spear-
short-film-trailer.aspx - Accessed 21/02/2016
Ubisoft forums (no date) Which game did you like best? Revelations or Brotherhood? Available at:
http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/629409-Which-game-did-you-like-best-Revelations-or-
Brotherhood-Forums - Accessed 20/02/2016
Ubisoftgroup.com (No Date) Ubisoft reports full-year 2007-08 sales.Available at:
https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/comsite_common/en-US/images/2007-
2008_4th%20Quarter%20Sales_PR_tcm99-27591_tcm99-196733-32.pdf – Accessed 13/02/2016
Vgchartz.com (2006-2016) Game Database. Available at:
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Assassin%27s+Creed&publisher=1750&platform=&genre=&
minSales=0&results=1000 – Accessed 13/02/2016
Video-game-addiction.com (No Date) Physical Consequencesof Gaming Addiction. Available at:

Page | 15
http://www.video-game-addiction.org/physical-consequences.html - Accessed 21/02/2016

Contextual Studies Essay

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Contextual Studies Essay

Contextual Studies Essay