Assassin's Creed Origins is a 2017 action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the tenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, following 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. The story follows a Medjay named Bayek of Siwa and his wife Aya, and explores the origins of the millennia-long conflict between the Hidden Ones (forerunners to the Assassin Brotherhood) who fight for peace by promoting liberty. The narrative also includes sequences set during the 21st century, which follow a new character, Layla Hassan.
Many people were not sure of the direction of this new addition to Assassin’s Creed. Historically, the game has been set in Rome, and various other European locations, but with the dismal reception of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, the developers decided to take the franchise into a new direction. The game had yet to visit the continent of Africa and it tells the story of the franchises first real assassin, Bayek. Some are seeing this new dive into the Assassin’s Creed universe as a reboot of the series, a way for the franchise to start anew
Production of the game:
The game's development began following the release of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in 2013. Ubisoft Montreal led its four-year development with help from a team of nearly 700 people from other Ubisoft studios around the world. The team consulted Egyptologists and historians to ensure the setting was authentically represented in the game. Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal. Assassin's Creed Origins was first leaked in January 2016 and was was released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One worldwide on October 27, 2017.
This game is unique within the games market during 2017 because of its setting and historical backgrounds. Other games released around this time like Resident Evil 7 and Super Mario Odyessy did not compare with the direction the franchise took when it explored other continents which may have reached a smaller target audience.
Exploring the audience:
With bloody violence, nudity, and strong language throughout, Assassin's Creed Origins is a game aimed at an adult audience.
Audience profile- Many of the main characters in the Assassin's Creed franchise are male, although they do have female characters they are not playable characters. Also the main target gender for video games are males. As the setting of this game is based in the continent of Africa it will target a typically under-represented group of people within the video game community, reaching people who are either interested with the history of Egypt or may be from there itself.. For this game the age rating for the game is classified as a 18 so would reach a possible 18-30 age rating. Linking to Young & Rubicam’s 4C’s, the targeted audience would be Strugglers as they seek escape and possible Explorers as they seek discovery.
Marketing Of The Game:
May 16th 2017: In the beginning
The Assassin's Creed Social Media Channels revealed that "The Assassins would soon be stepping out of the shadows", suggesting that people would finally get to see the highly anticipated game. The reveal of the Yellow and Green Logo led to many members of the Assassin's Creed Community changing their Profile Picture. This quickly spread the word around about the game to other gamers and lovers of this franchise.
June 2017: Assassin's Creed Origins Officially Revealed
World Premiere Gameplay Trailer shown at the Microsoft Conference.
Ubisoft Conference- Ashraf Ismail reveals that he is the Game Director on Assassin's Creed Origins, and that the game would be playable at the Ubisoft booth for those at the event.
Ashraf does a Walkthrough and Q+A.
June 12th 2017: Editions of the Game and Figurines revealed, available for pre-order at the Ubisoft Store
Games Radar begin their coverage of AC Origins
17th July 2017: Ubisoft announced a Community Creation Contest.
Cosplayer Rick Boer and RBF Productions announce on Instagram that they are creating a Bayek Costume. Rick would later wear the costume at several events, including Gamescom and PAX West.
4th August: Life-sized Assassin's Creed Origins and obstacle course available at ICBC (Asia) E-sports and Music Festival Hong Kong:
20th August 2017: Gamescom 2017
The Cinematic Trailer for Assassin's Creed Origins was released
Ubisoft released a wealth of new information and images for Assassin's Creed Origins. Those who attended the event could play the game at the Ubisoft Booth, and even read the first chapter of Desert Oath. Gamescom also introduced fans to Bayek's wife, Aya, who appears to be highly popular within the AC Community already!
31st August: Assassin's Creed and Monster Energy Collaboration announced (SYNERGY)
Information from Gamespot: "More than 500 million Monster Energy drink cans globally will carry Assassin's Creed: Origins branding, with the cans starting to show up in stores now. This makes it one of Ubisoft's largest retail promotion partnerships ever"
For this game, the franchise used many different types of marketing, like the ones above. They used social media to create conversation about the game and spark interest swiftly from fans and game lovers. They then went on too organize face-to-face conferences for fans and game creators to share insights on the game. They then branched to many other ways of marketing like merchandise and fan competitions to engage with their existing fan base and a possible new targeted fan base.
Analyzing the Trailer:
In the trailer, it contains appeals and elements of uniqueness that the audience will feel drawn too. One of the main appeals in the trailer is the need to escape. The audience are shown parts of the game that instill a sense of excitement and it allows them to imagine adventures they cannot have. Another appeal that the trailer conveys is the familiarity of then narrative for the fans. In the trailer we see the characters who were in some of the early AC games.
The website:
On the website, it draws attention to the the game overview and the different consoles you can purchase it on. It also focuses on recommended content like an educational mode and a hieroglyphic drawing experiment.
In this video, it shows a piece of gameplay from the game. It links to the need to explore as it shows a character exploring an ancient Egyptian town. The gameplay shows a good representation of the setting and uniqueness of this game, showing off the ancient Egyptian clothing and structures.
Stuart Hall- Reception theory:
For this game the dominant reading would be to attract a more diverse audience because of the setting chosen. The Egyptian setting was a typically underrepresented setting during the era the game came out. The negotiated reading would be the use of the main character who has featured in many early AC games. However, this may stop dome decoder's from wanting to play because they may not have experienced that characters story. An example of the oppositional reading for this game would be that the only female characters, Evie and Amunet, are only playable for a portion of time, meaning it may be rejected by a female audience.
David Hesmondhalgh- Cultural Industries:
This theory links to this game because they attempt to minimize risk and maximize audience by sticking with familiar characters. The use of Bayek from earlier seasons increases the safeness of the original fanbase buying the game.
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