Released in 2015, the Ubisoft franchise saw the release of the 9th Assassin's Creed game; Syndicate. Taking two years to develop, October 23rd 2015 was the date of release for Xbox One and Playstation 4, November 19th for Microsoft Windows.
Written by Corey May and Jeffrey Yolahem, they created a story together for a M rated, action-adventure stealth game set within 1868 Industrial London. Syndicate follows 2 twins, Evie and Jacob Frye who attempt to restore the Monarchy and the Church by teaming up with characters of the time such as Charles Darwin, Dickens and Queen Victoria. There was 6 other available downloadable content for Syndicate which included Jack the Ripper and the Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy.
Being the 9th best selling retail game within the United Kingdom during 2015, February of 2016 saw over 4.12 million copies sold globally and by November 2017 5.5 million. This could've been due to the games market of 2015, the lack of representation of strong women within video games began to become recognised, hence the inclusion of our second female assassin Evie.
Assassins creed also began to take advantage of next gen consoles such as Playstation 4 and Xbox One. But these weren't the only unique selling points for the game in fact Syndicate offered a lot more.
Being rated Mature, it didn't match the innocence of some of the other 2015 best selling games like Minecraft or Lego Jurassic World but instead something like Grand Theft Auto 5 or Batman Arkham Knight.
Gamers of this year began to look for a lot more, craving innovation within the games they play, as a story game Assassin's Creed aspired for more creativity, creating a game that handles topics or problems within our society, claiming at the end of the trailer "Oppression has to end."
This cinematic trailer ended up winning the game the Golden Trailer award, not to disregard the games total 7 wins and 8 nominations overall. Mainly Canadian wins due to it's creators being Ubisoft Quebec, located in Canada.
Other unique selling points of the game consisted of:
- Location, this was the first and still only Assassin's Creed game to be set within the United Kingdom, specifically London & its the most modern timeframe of history being within the 19th Century.
- Starting off as an assassin, followed by the ability to swap between assassins every so often, which also are the only playable twins within the franchise.
- Last game before the overhaul of updates within the franchise (including rpg elements.)
- First game to introduce "inspired by historical events and characters, this work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations and gender identities."
- Different modes of transport such as grapple & horse carriages, fitting the theme and narrative.
In terms of audience, Syndicate was pretty predictable.
With masculine dominance being prominent within the video game industry, it was bound for the game to be targeted towards males. Whilst there was the introduction to Evie, the Assassin's Creed characters are predominantly male themselves.
In terms of ethnicity or race, we can only assume that the audience is mostly western, from the locations and settings being in Rome, New York, North East America and now London, audiences would find comfort and enjoyment from seeing representation of their location.
For age, 18-28, whilst I don't doubt that younger audiences play this game, I am mindful of the rating being an 18.
Religion is an uncertainty within the Assassin's Creed franchise as usually there is no prominent religion within each of the games, however, this game being set within Industrial London, can figure that potentially the Catholic may be targeted by the Syndicate game of Assassin's Creed.
The target audience may be the explorer as part of the 4C's as they seek discovery or curiosity within a new time period of the franchise, or potentially the Stuggler as they seek escapism within the games they play. Additionally, the target audience will have a need for achievement, finding their Hierarchy of Needs within self-esteem proud through prestige of completing tasks within the video game.
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