Assassin’s Creed: Mirage
Basic information:
· Mirage, the most recent game from the AC franchise is the 13th instalment in the game’s history. Fans had high expectations for the game, due to the success of its predecessor Valhalla.
· The game is unique, due to the Islamic Golden Age era that it takes place in, giving fans a sense of excitement to test out a brand-new world (a re-imaged Baghdad) to play the game in.
· The main character of the game is a street thief, who gets caught in a world of Assassins and their enemies (the Templars.)
· Another unique selling point of Mirage is that a new ability ‘Assassin focus’ is introduced, which allows players to eliminate multiple enemies at once!
· Fans of the game can immerse themselves in the creation of this world, through the ‘Re-creating a lost city’ video, published by Ubisoft the games developer. This shows audiences the historical accuracy of the game and how passionate the developers are- they worked with historians to try and remake the unseen Baghdad in the most culturally appreciative way possible: ‘we wanted to show the proud, cultural heritage of Baghdad.’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nruL1RS4gKs&vl=en)
Regulation:
· The game was given a PEGI 18 rating in the UK, which frustrated fans of the game who felt that a large part of the Assassins’ Creed gaming demographic was being left out of the community- despite multiple reports from Ubisoft saying the game would not be 18.
· This rating was awarded due to the ‘graphic violence and scariness’ shown in the game.
· Before release, there was some belief that the game was being given an 18-rating due to ‘real life gambling’ however this was untrue and didn’t appear in the game.
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Production:
· The budget for the game has not been released by Ubisoft yet.
· Ubisoft and their smaller team Ubisoft Bordeaux were the main producers of Mirage.
· Some fans were concerned over the involvement of Bordeaux, as they didn’t feel they were ‘experienced’ enough to take a lead on the games production.
· The Ubisoft Bordeaux team included a handful of Ubisoft Veterans, who worked on the creative side of the games production. (They have more than 430 employees from over 20 nationalities, making them a very culturally diverse team.)
· The cultural diversity of the production team is reflected in the games market era of the time, which is extremely culturally advanced.
Exploring the audience:
· The target audience for the game is 18-35 years old men, with interests in action and exploring cultures. There is also a demographic for Arabic gamers, who may not have seen themselves reflected accurately in their gameplaying before.
Marketing:
· Examples of marketing for the Mirage game include pop up ads in other parts of the series, launch trailers, a cinematic trailer and marketing videos on the Ubisoft YouTube channel to keep older fans of the games excited for the next instalment.
· In promotion of the game, a band called OneRepublic, released a song also titled ‘Mirage’, which featured visuals of the game in its music video. This helped to attract and an audience from music fans.
· A video titled ‘A return to the roots’ which gave longer fans of the franchise a surprise, that they would be able to use the original games lighting in Mirage- giving them a sense of nostalgia.
· Gameplay walkthroughs were made from fans, which increased the chances of beginner gamers buying the game, as they knew they would be able to grasp a basic understanding of the gameplay.
· The cinematic world premiere, which showcased the beautiful, detailed graphics of the game. The quotes such as ‘Are you ready to leave your life behind and follow the path of shadows?’ immediately creates a sense of excitement, as people can sense the darkness in the game. The final trailer shot of the dark shadows also creates anticipation for the games release.
· Similar, the gameplay trailer, which highlights the ‘stealthy takedowns’, Arabian elements such as music and the constant action included, shows fans exactly what they are buying into and helps them to resonate with the game.
· Finally, the game is technologically convergent, as it is available across most gaming consoles and the iPhone. There is also a free trial (for a limited time) which increases people’s chances of trying- and eventually buying- the game.
Success?:
· The game made 250 million dollars in revenue, making it a huge success economically.
· It didn’t win any awards, however it received many nominations, such as: ‘Games developer choice award’, ‘20th British Academy games award’ and ‘the Golden Joystick Award 2023.’
· The game received varied reviews from fans. Positive reviews:
‘I enjoyed this game and think any fan should give it a try’, ‘a half-way trip down memory lane’, ‘weirdly addicting’, ‘a step in the right direction’, ‘Very familiar fun’ and ‘Mirage is designed specifically for fans who miss the good old days.’
· On the other hand, others gave the game quite negative reviews:
‘Overall, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a mild disappointment. It relies heavily on your ability to ignore all the bad.’- nscoby93
‘I had high hopes for this game following Odyssey and Valhalla, but was very disappointed. I honestly wish that I hadn’t wasted my money.’- beckettd.
· Similarly, the game also received varied reviews from critics-
‘Overall, this does feel like something of a miss when Ubisoft doesn’t need its games to be missing.’ – Forbes
‘In returning to its roots, Ubisoft has made a more focused AC game, one that those with limited time have hopes of completing’- The Guardian.
Benefits of the franchise model:
A game like AC benefits, as it can keep to the same basic structure, whilst incorporating different life stories, missions and graphics for fans who they know will already enjoy, as it sticks to their preferred mode of gaming style.
The franchise model also ensures that the game will keep popularity, as it is highly regarded and, in a way, a household name for many gaming fans. They are known for their gaming style and don't have to try and overexert into a new fanbase, as they have already acquired a large, passionate group of consumers who will stay loyal to the game and continue to buy.
The franchise model can easily link to the theory of Curran and Seaton, where a large company (Ubisoft) may limit the creativity of the gaming industry, as they can so easily recreate the same gaming structure, just with a brand new leading character. Whilst they may oppose this with their use of cultural diversity, they still very much follow a generic action franchise gaming model. Theorists
-Livingstone and Lunt:
Livingstone and Lunt say that there is a struggle between trying to offer protection to citizens from harmful material and the need to ensure choice, market competition and value for money. This applies to the regulation of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, as it received a PEGI 18 certification, due to its graphic violence. Whilst this helps parents and other consumers decide whether the game is appropriate for themselves and/or children to play it also limits the choice of gaming for younger audiences, who felt excluded from the franchise, as their access was limited.
As the technological side of the world advances, regulation also becomes a lot harder to enforce when it comes to gaming. Media is now more digitally convergent, meaning that gamers under the age of 18 can very easily buy the game online, whether by creating an online account with a fake birthday, using an older relatives account or even by (in-person) persuading a parent to buy the game for them- the UKIE revealed in 2015 that only 2 out of 5 parents buy their children age appropriate games. Alongside this, audiences can now illegally download games onto their consoles, which in return damages Ubisoft’s profits, as they will not make money off the downloads.
In conclusion, Livingstone, and Lunt’s theory of representation, means that there is a conflict with regulations being set by industries to try and limit the exposure to violence for younger people, but it is difficult to be put into place as there as so many ways that audiences can get the game without it being enforced.
-Albert Bandura:
Albert Bandura’s theory that the media can affect audiences, as active audiences may ‘inject and implant’ ideas from what they see on screen into their real life can be applied to Assassin’s Creed: Mirage. This is more applicable to a younger audience, whose moral compass may not yet be formed. In Mirage, the game focuses on stealth, where we see the protagonist of the game use graphic violence to murder his enemies (stabbing, throat slashing etc.) This could implant the ideology that its okay to assassinate people who have done you wrong, leading to possible copying from audiences who have been inspired by the game. The killing in the game is also done so in a visually aesthetic way, with slow motions of knives being pulled, which makes the weaponry look more glorified, as opposed to showing it as dangerous. This could make, specifically younger, audiences look past the negative connotations of the blade and instead view it as an aesthetic, cool piece of weaponry.
This could also link to the above theory of Livingstone and Lunt and explain in a more in-depth way as to why adult age ratings are put into place by PEGI.
In opposition to this theory, it is difficult to assume that audiences playing the game will want to copy the violent acts shown, as they should be aware that the game, they are likely playing in a domestic setting is not real and, therefore, the acts that take place shouldn’t be repeated in a real-life setting. Most audiences will play the game as a form of escapism and not much more.
Relatively, players might take positive attitudes from the game, for example the protagonist of Mirage is a strong, smart man and audiences may respect this and try to follow these attributions in real life to help improve their confidence.
In conclusion, while Bandura’s theory is definitely important to recognize, especially when linked to Livingstone and Lunt’s regulation theory, it is also easy to identify that this does not apply to a large majority of the games audience, as most have a fully formed moral compass and young children should have adult figures stopping them from playing ‘graphic violent’ games and teaching them that the things shown in the game are wrong and not to be followed in real life. It is difficult to assume that people playing the game will want to incorporate these things into day-to-day life, as they should have more awareness.
-Curran and Seaton:
Curran and Seaton’s ‘Power and media industries’ theory believe that the media is controlled by a small number of large profit driven companies, that limit the creativity and risk of media in favor of money. They believe that smaller companies should be given more opportunities, so that they can have more creative products on the market.
Assassin’s creed Mirage is produced and published by Ubisoft, an independent company not controlled by a media conglomerate. However, they are an established company that make huge profits from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Whilst in the production of Mirage, it was often repeated that their goal was to create a culturally inclusive game that immerses audiences, the general formula of the gameplay was structured just like any other action based, Assassin’s Creed game. The only main difference was the Arabic culture of the protagonist and the setting of the game (Baghdad.) This could show that the company is profit driven, as they don’t vary too much from their original structure and, some say, repeat the same game but with a different narrative as the cover.
The game also already has an established, loyal fanbase who will continue to buy the games as long as they are still in creation. This means that they don’t necessarily take risks in their production, as they don’t have to worry about losing their profits as the game is already going to do well, regardless of any changes made. The producers use this to their advantage and keep the gameplay simple, as they know it won’t make a difference to the sales of the game.
While some risks were taking, for example some dialogue spoken in Arabic to enhance the culture, a new attack move and a setting to put the original Assassin’s Creed lighting over the new game, this is only very limited risks as they can easily be overlooked/ ignored by the audience. They are not huge risks, so they could be seen as tokenistic.
In conclusion, while Ubisoft (the games producer and publisher) is an independent company, they seem to follow profit driven values when it comes to the production of the game, instead of taking creative risks to enhance the game and potentially attract new audiences.
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