Transmedia/Crossmedia IP: Assassin's Creed

Above; The game that set it all off in 2007.

Having researched the animation medium quite a bit up until this point, it is time to get inside this transmedia phenomenon. I recently found this amazing website called Transmedialab , which thoroughly documents transmedia experiments. One of the first I read and maybe one of the most interesting ones (at least for my project), is about Ubisoft's smash hit Assassin's Creed (AC). 

Assassin's Creeds legacy began in 2007, with the first game on the XBOX360 and PS3. It stars Altair, a lone assassin in Jeruzalem during the Crusades who sets out to unravel a grand mystery. Behind Altair there is Desmond, a 21st century barman who is abducted for his unique DNA lineage, which traces all the way back to Altair. His mysterious captors use a machine called the Animus to read this DNA and unravel the story of Desmond's ancestor.

The game became a great succes. Since then, a torrent of games and other material based on the franchise came out. Above you can see the the timeline of the Assassin's Creed franchise. It shows all the components which made this franchise into a global hit. Notice the variety of game platforms and media forms used to convey the story of this universe.

Below are some examples of videos which showcase the other media used and their differing aesthetics to draw gamers into the game's universe. These movies first appear on the net to draw attention of the gamers audience.

Ascendance, a short movie about the uprising of the villain in the game AC game Brotherhood, sports an illustrative, concept art kind of visual style. It is comprised of animated digital drawings and has a moody, sometimes even gritty appeal.

Embers, a short movie about the last days of AC's 2 main character Ezio, departs from the game visuals and opts for a more soft, edgier 3D animated aesthetic. It really complements the story quite well, which ends on a dramatic with Ezio drawing his last breath.

Lineage was a series of 3 short live action movies showing the events prior to the second AC game and shows Ezio's dad in action. It was used to stir up the hype for its release.

Here's an interesting quote in the article accompanying the explanation about the AC comic, explaining the added value of the transmedia approach;

"Published by “Les Deux Royaumes”, the publishing house created by Ubisoft, this comic book series is not just a promotional tool for the games developer. Corbeyran and Defali, well-known figures in the comic book world and the names behind the Stryges series, were put in charge of the project, with the aim of providing further insights into still half-hidden areas of the game’s world.

In volume one, fans learned more about Desmond Miles and his ancestors Altaïr and Ezio, as well as about the famous Patient 16, whose symbols had aroused the curiosity of a large portion of the gaming community.

This is the sort of touch that explains the success of this transmedia franchise: small details scattered through the story’s world which can be developed into the plotline of another complementary narrative. Jeff Gomez characterised them as “distant mountains”, features that appear to be far-off, in the background, but which drive an urge to explore further, and underline the richness of the artificial world."Another quote I found, I found rather interesting as well. It talks about an other graphic novel and explains the difference between crossmedia and transmedia;

"According to Cinecomics.fr, the series contains “excellent revelations and a taut and well-developed plotline, alternating between 1888 and 1998 in a perfect rhythm.”

In the Around the Transmedia World interview series, Louis-Pierre Pharand, transmedia producer and director of UbiWorkshop, adds some extra insight into this transmedia approach to the franchise:

“Whatever the medium, we never tell the story of the game: that would be cross-media. With transmedia we open up a new narrative avenue within the brand, which is connected to the brand and respects the parameters of the brand, but is entirely independent, a stand-alone product which will give someone who doesn’t play the video game an excellent experience within the given medium. We also call it an entry point into the brand.”

That’s certainly what has been achieved with The Fall, which can be read, understood and enjoyed without ever having played one of the games. The comic book remains within the framework of the brand, without becoming a derivative product or a mere marketing tool."

Conclusion(s)
- From the start, the people at Ubisoft didn't just make a game, they created a universe with an interesting storyline and characters

- The games function as the core of their universe

- They use a lot of animated features rounding out the story and filling in the blanks inbetween games

- The comics stand on their own, having new characters and new storylines set in another timeline

- The main difference between crossmedia and transmedia is that crossmedia just transports the same story to another medium, whereas transmedia expands on it using different media