geoffroy-sardin
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Another 'big' Assassin's Creed next year, Brotherhood sells over 1M in Europe
I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011. I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around." -- Ubisoft associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin, July 2010, before being overridden. We didn't buy it and, deep down, we don't think Mr. Boivin did either, who also warned that "business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games." It's about selling over 1 million copies, as Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has done within its first week in Europe. Geoffroy Sardin, Ubisoft's marketing and sales chief for Europe, Middle East and Asia, shared the news with MCV and clarified that another -- and, more importantly -- "big" Assassin's Creed game would launch in 2011. "Yes, Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO] mentioned it last week in our financials – and more details will be forthcoming," Sardin said. "But what I can say is that next year we will have another big Assassin's Creed game." Launching just a year after Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has won critics over with its representation of Rome and its innovative, unusually paced multiplayer mode. According to Sardin, 60 percent of Brotherhood owners have wielded a hidden blade in the online crowd, and Ubisoft intends to support that player base with regular doses of DLC. The first new map and additional mode will be available in December for free. As Boivin has stated before, the successful multiplayer component will likely remain an integral part of Assassin's Creed for the foreseeable future, but how it will fit into the next big game is a matter of speculation. We'll likely learn more within the next six months, unless Ubisoft makes the effort to defy predictions. With another game so soon, the onus is on the developer's massive workforce to preserve the element of surprise.
Ubisoft maintains Beyond Good & Evil 2 still in production [update]
Update: Ubisoft confirmed to G4TV that the translation was accurate and "Yes, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and I Am Alive are both still in development." Guess that answers that! Because it will make the vagueness of today's rumor even more hilarious for you, we're going to walk you through the incredible history of Beyond Good & Evil 2 real quick: May 2008: Ubisoft announces Beyond Good & Evil 2, with a trailer and everything, though not specifically naming it as such. July 2009: Ubisoft North America's president Laurent Detoc says that while BG&E stuff is being worked on, it doesn't necessarily mean another game is on the way. August 2009: Gamersyde says it's on hold, and Ubisoft won't comment one way or another. And now, here we are in January of 2010. As spotted by VG247, Gamekult asked Ubisoft France boss Geoffroy Sardin about I Am Alive and BG&E 2 and was told, "Ils sont toujours en production tous les deux"; directly translated, "They're both always/still in production." Alright, so which do you prefer: canceled and dead forever or always in production?
