Ubisoft Assassin's Creed: Study Case

A few months ago I wrote a study case about Ubisoft‘s new IP (Intellectual Property) entitled Assassin’s Creed. Since it was focused on marketing, I decided to publish it here as well, to give you a structured informational material as food for thought. Enjoy!

With more than 20 years of experience in the video games market, Ubisoft strengthens its position as a top player in the industry by taking a head on approach on next‐gen gaming experience. Focusing on strong brands, in‐house development and a global distribution network, Ubisoft has succeeded in producing innovative, high‐quality titles as well as gain in‐depth customer knowledge.

In a market dominated by franchises and sequels to already established titles, Ubisoft takes on the adventure of reinventing its already known brands, while in the same time creating new successful titles every year. “Pushing innovation and realism as never before and allowing players to experience incredible emotional journeys: these are the challenges that Ubisoft teams take up daily.” Drawing on the internal development capacities and the success of its already established franchises, Ubisoft is in the ideal position of being able to produce new creations, a factor considered by the company management as essential for winning market share and ensuring strong long term growth.

One of the latest new intellectual properties created by Ubisoft recently was Assassin’s Creed, an action/adventure game for which the developers “chose one of History’s most troubled and bloody times: the Third Crusade.” Officially launched for Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 on Nov 16, 2007, Assassin’s Creed delivers an innovative and exciting gaming experience through a compelling story taking place in a realistic and extremely interactive environment.

Only one month after the official release, Ubisoft officials were forced to adjust their expectations related to the success of Assassin’s Creed, as the title sold in more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest‐selling new videogame intellectual property in the US ever. Initially estimated at 3 million copies, Ubisoft sales forecasts for 2007‐2008 were pushed forward towards the 5 million unit mark in order to match the unexpected success of the new title.

What were the factors that drove the unexpected success of Assassin’s Creed and which was the most important one? Was it the strength of Ubisoft as one of the major players on the market and the title’s advertising budget? Was the market offering an opportunity uncovered yet by other publishers? Was it the next‐gen technical and the artistic attributes of the game? Was it the community reviews? Was it…?

daniel-secareanu-assassins-creed (pdf – extensive writeup)

daniel-secareanu-assassins-creed (ppt – short presentation)