Sony Pictures wins bidding war for Assassin’s Creed movie

By Rick Marshall October 20, 2011

Ubisofts’s massively popular Assassin’s Creed franchise has moved yet another step closer to the big screen.

Sony Pictures is finalizing a deal to adapt and distribute the Assassin’s Creed movie franchise after winning a bidding war over the rights to the game. According to Variety, Ubisoft’s desire for creative control over the adaptations of its games was a major element of the deal, and factored heavily into the negotiation process.

The French game developer launched Ubisoft Motion Pictures back in February, and announced plans to bring Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon to the big screen in May. The adaptation-minded offshoot of the company also has plans for an animated television series based on its Ravings Rabbids franchise.

Assassin’s Creed isn’t the only game-related project on Sony’s plate these days, either. The studio also has an adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted franchise in the works.

Just in case you’ve missed out on the Assassin’s Creed phenomenon, the franchise follows a man who’s kidnapped by a mysterious corporation and forced to relive the memories of his ancestors — which include several generations of a shadowy guild of assassins — in order to recover ancient artifacts.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has sold more 30 million copies of the games worldwide, with the latest installment, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations hitting shelves November 15.

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Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes the series back to 2007 in all the right ways

The main character of Assassin's Creed: Mirage perches on a ledge and looks out over the city of Baghdad.

Ubisoft bills Assassin’s Creed Mirage, its upcoming stealth adventure launching this October, as a return to the franchise’s roots. Go back to the original Assassin’s Creed in 2007 and you’ll find something that looks entirely different from the massive open-world of Valhalla. It was a more focused experience with an emphasis on methodic and stealthy gameplay, all taking place in Jerusalem.

Each subsequent entry would expand that existing formula while switching settings and time periods: 13th-century Italy, the American Revolutionary War, and the Golden Age of Piracy. However, 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origin transitioned the series to a much larger open-world structure in Egypt, a trend that would balloon further with 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and 2020’s massive Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

Assassin's Creed Mirage Basim

It's time to ready your hidden blades once again, assassins, because a brand new entry in the Assassin's Creed series is upon us. All the leaks and rumors have turned out to be true, and the next installment in the franchise has been officially revealed as Assassin's Creed Mirage. This franchise has undergone some major changes in recent entries, and the next game seems poised to shake things up yet again.

First officially revealed during a Ubisoft Forward in September 2022, Assassin's Creed Mirage will be the next mainline game in the series after 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While each game typically only has smaller, less prominent ties to one another (at least after the series moved on from the Desmond arc), this game bucks the trend in that regard. From plot to gameplay changes and more, here's everything we know about Assassin's Creed Mirage, an upcoming PlayStation 5 game we have our eye on.
Release date

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming out earlier than expected

Basim leaps at an enemy in Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Ubisoft revealed that Assassin's Creed Mirage will now release on October 5, a week earlier than originally intended.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is supposed to be a back-to-basics entry for Ubisoft's long-running action-adventure series. It was announced in 2022 and got an October 12 release date during the PlayStation Showcase in May. Now, just two months before the game was set to release, Ubisoft announced that it has moved the release of Assassin's Creed Mirage up by one week to October 5. This coincides with a tweet announcing that the game had "gone gold," which essentially means that development of the game is complete and Ubisoft's focus can turn to post-launch support.
https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1691121970098700288
Delays are very common in this industry, and Ubisoft especially is no stranger to them; Skull & Bones is a prime example. That's why Assassin's Creed Mirage joins a rare group of games that actually come out earlier than originally expected. In 2022, we saw Xenoblade Chronicles 3 moved from September to July, while this year, Baldur's Gate 3's PC launch moved up from August 31 to August 3, which ended up being a much better release window for the game.
Although Ubisoft did not specifically state the reason for moving Assassin's Creed Mirage up, it wouldn't be surprising if the company wanted to give the game more space and attention ahead of other games coming out this October, like Forza Motorsport, Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Regardless, it's going to kick off one of the busiest months for game releases in 2023.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will launch for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5.