Ubisoft to debut short film “Assassin’s Creed: Lineage” exclusively on YouTube

Concept Art from Ubisoft's upcoming "Assassin's Creed II"

Ubisoft announced on Monday that it would be posting a short film based on its hit game “Assassin’s Creed” to YouTube on October 27th. The short film will be a mixture of computer graphics and live action which will set the stage for the upcoming “Assassin’s Creed II” which is scheduled for launch on November 17th.

The film, titled “Assassin’s Creed: Lineage”, was created by Ubisoft’s special effects firm Hybride Technologies, which was purchased by the French based company in July of last year. Some of you may recognize the name… They played a large part in the computer graphics and surreal imagery in the movies “300″, “Sin City”, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” as well as many of the “Spy Kids” movies.

The first short film’s debut (first of a three part series) will be featured exclusively for 24 hours on YouTube’s main page on October 27th. Fans of the original game and newcomers alike will be treated to the first glimpses of the story behind Assassin’s Creed II which is set in Renaissance Italy. In total, the three short films will run 38 minutes in length.

The actors in the films are those who lent their talents to the game as well. Not only are their voices present but their likenesses as well. The film’s producer, Yves Simoneau, worked with Ubisoft’s producer Patrice Desilets to ensure that everything remained the same from the films to the game. Even the script for the films is the work of the Assassin Creed’s writer Corey May.

While this may not be the first effort of the videogame industry to control the creative direction of the movie media in regards to their works, it may very well be the first to be completely successful. The move to feature the works via YouTube, for free, may well be the first signs that companies like Ubisoft understand the power of mass advertising through free formats. After all, those that choose to watch the films are clicking intentionally on the links that essentially advertise a product.

What does this mean to you and me? I doubt much in this initial stage, but consider the money that is being spent to produce this project. Ubisoft may still advertise in the “normal” media but those who choose to watch the films are more of a captive audience than the software company could hope to reach during normal television viewing.

Trailers for the upcoming short films have hinted at a very high production value and weighing in at the aforementioned 38 minutes total is considerably longer than one could hope to ever air during a commercial.

While it remains to be seen as to whether this will be a smart move on Ubisoft’s part, the buzz already generated on the web for “Lineage” would seem to point in that direction. And if it is successful, how long before YouTube is flooded by movie-mercials advertising the latest and greatest in gaming by telling a back story about it?

We can only wait and see.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 2:52 am and is filed under Gamer News, Gritskrieg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.