For this task i have chosen to research Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, which is the 9th major instalment in the Assassin's creed series, and the successor to Assassin's Creed: Unity. The game was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox one, and November 2015 for Windows. If only focused on the main storyline, Syndicate takes around 18 hours to complete. However if you wish to explore all the worldbuilding done within 1800's London, that would take around 54 1/2 hours to complete.
The story follows a pair of twin assassin's, Jacob and Evie, with the main story being set in 1868 London during the second industrial revolution. The game also contains sequences (known as 'time anomalies') which are set in 1916 during World War One, in which the protagonist is Jacob's granddaughter Lydia. The majority of the game follows Jacob and Evie as they navigate the grizzly world of organised crime, and try and take back he city of London from a group of Templar's known as the Blighters. This game takes place in 3 major time periods- 2015-1868-1916.
In 2015, the Helix player (the protagonist of Assassin's creed: Unity) is contacted to help the brotherhood search for a piece of Eden in London, and whilst doing so they relive the memories of Jacob and Evie Frye.
whilst exploring the memories of the Frye twins, the Helix player encounters a time anomaly which means they experience the memories of Jacob's granddaughter Lydia Frye In 1916, at the request of Prime Minister Winston Churchill Lydia is tasked with eliminating a German spy facility in Towers Bridge, wherein she discovers that the German spy network has been infiltrated by the Templars. In exchange for her services in removing them, Churchill promises Lydia the enfranchisement of women after the war. After flushing out the Templars, their leader is discovered to be a sage, and the reincarnation of Juno's Husband Aita (this is more important for the other content in the series, i mentioned it as it links all the overarching lore together)
For every objective completed within the time anomaly, Juno appears to the helix player and tells of her past and rise to power. When the reincarnation of her husband is killed, Juno thanks the player, and insinuates that she and the brotherhood may work together in the future.
(Lydia Frye and Winston Churchill, 1916)
In 1868, the Frye twins learn that the templars are seeking another artefact in London, and go there to stop them only to find out from Henry Green (another assassin) that the London Brotherhood has fallen, and that the city is under the control of the templars, the London leader of which is Crawford Starrick, someone who has ties to both the cities industry and the criminal underworld. The twins decide to liberate London from the templar-run gangs, in the process of which they form their own gang 'the Brooks' and become allies with various influential figures in history such as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Alexander Graham Bell etc. During this time Jacob assassinates multiple of Starrick's allies, such as the governor of the bank of England, Dr John Elliotson, and Starrick's cousin. Eventually they infiltrate the royal palace in order to retrieve the piece of Eden (known as the shroud), although Starrick beats them there and has retrieved it by the time they catch up to him. They eventually defeat him, return the shroud to the vault, and are knighted by Queen Victoria for their effort.
In 2015, Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings infiltrate abstergo's London facility whilst the helix player experienced these memories. They spy on a meeting between senior templars Isabella Ardant and Álvaro Gramática, who are also searching for the shroud. They try and capture Ardant, but are forced to flee after being attacked by Otso Berg and Violet Da Costa. Both parties eventually meet again at the vault where the shroud is located, and whilst Ardant is killed, Da Costa flees with the shroud. Ardant's laptop is hacked and it is found out that the Templars plan to use the shroud to construct a living precursor (the Isu) They also discover that Juno is manipulating employees within the company to ensure its sabotage and she has her own plans for the shroud.
This game is unique from the other instalments in the series as not only does it feature the first female main characters in Evie and Lydia, and the fact that it allows you to play as two separate protagonists within the same time period in Jacob and Evie, but that it takes a page from GTA- San Andreas' book, introducing the gang system that allows you to liberate London from the control of the Blighters and to create your own gang. You also don't have to stick to the character traits that Ubisoft presented for each twin. Whilst they intended for Jacob to be the hot headed, James bond-esqe assassin who always leaves a room with two dead people and an explosion, Evie also fills those roles perfectly well, allowing her to dismantle gangs and beat up the patriarchy in a stunning display of martial arts and weapons. And if you want Jacob to take on Evie's 'designated' role as the calmer, stealthier sibling then you are fully able to do so.
This game is also unique in that it features 3 separate time periods, instead of the usual 2 for AC games. this is because of the Time anomaly created by Juno. it also features the largest open world city to date in an assassin's creed game.
This game was developed by Ubisoft Quebec, and published by Ubisoft, with a budget of $85 million. Designed by François Pelland, he has been producing games like the assassin's creed franchise for more then 20 years. Marc-Alexis Côté was the creative director, Lydia Andrew is the games audio director and Historian Jean-Vincent Ro was brought on to consult regarding the historical accuracy of the game. The game was developed by 9 different companies
The audience for this game would likely be people, aged 18-35, possibly male, although there is opportunity and reason for a female audience to play as well. They would likely be part of the mainstream audience, given that Assassin's creed is such a large household name/brand, that most people have heard of this franchise, even if they haven't played the games. The audience for this game could also be a part of the explorer audience, given that the game is of the sandbox genre, where players are encouraged to explore the world around them to their hearts content.
In regard to the advertisement of this game, Ubisoft went the extra mile in my opinion. something they did was to market the games release with a bike ride around London. More specifically, Penny Farthings rides around London Penny Farthings are a type of bicycle most popular during the 1870-1880's period, which is when the game takes place. This sect of the marketing campaign would be an example of synergy, wherein something outside the norm is used to market a media product. Another example of synergy would be the French Uber teaming up with Ubisoft and using carriages to market the game. Their focus when advertising was a wide outdoor campaign, focused on the setting of the game London. They partnered with Villain, a creative agency based in London to create various pieces of advertising, including billboards, bus sides, kiosks and a domination of over 20 posters surrounding waterloo station. Their biggest advertisement however arrived in the form of the recreation of the interior of a working class Victorian pub in a 360º wrap of a busy walkway in Oxford Circus tube station, which was designed to immerse the passer-by's as they walked through.
For their social media campaign they partnered with David Mcgreavy, who aimed to create a social campaign that matched the era of the game whilst emphasising the improvements to the game and style. Through his work they were able to generate 17 million impressions and nearly 100,000 engagements for the AC brand throughout. They connected with fans and engaged with the community and created new fans along the way.
Ubisoft put out several trailers in the build up to the release of Syndicate, including one for each main character, Jacob and Evie .
David Hesmondhalgh's theory of cultural industries is made up of the idea that cultural industry companies try to maximise audience and minimise risk through the use of vertical and horizontal integration, and that large companies operate across a number of different cultural industries. it also presents the idea that the radical potential of the internet is contained through incorporation into cultural industries.
This theory applies to AC: Syndicate as Ubisoft both developed and published it, which is integration designed to increase profit. they minimise risk through the production of a game that's a part of a household franchise, and although they invite risk through the use of a female protagonist, it is minimised through the addition of a dual male protagonist. their franchise has spanned multiple cultural industries, from merch (such as figurines and life size collectable weapons from the game), to costumes
(cameron1138's Jacob Frye Cosplay)
and posters and trailers for the game. The game also contains additional content (dlc's) which would be an incentive for people to pay extra for quests involving known historical figures such as Charles Darwin and Jack the Ripper.
(Jack the ripper fanart from Chiara Raimond, 2018)
Henry Jenkins Fandom in audiences theory is composed of three main ideas that apply to this media product:
-the idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings
This idea is visible within the Syndicate fandom when one looks at the official reddit, they offer feedback and ideas to the devs, and they have actively requested that fans do so, leading to fans and the developers having more of a two way relationship then they did in the past.
The idea that fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers (textual poaching)
This idea can be seen within the AC: Syndicate fandom when one looks at it for more then a minute. fan art, fan fiction, YouTube videos of people doing parkour in Syndicate costumes , people assigning vines to Syndicate characters, AMV'S where the creator pairs scenes of the game to a song of their choosing, the fan content out there is endless. although it is highly unlikely that this type of content is what the developers expected when they published this game, the fact is, the fans have come together to create their own community around this game, and have made their own content. they have poached this game and created their own community with their poaching.
The idea that fans construct their own social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass culture images, and are part of a participatory culture that has a vital social dimension
people incorporate these games into their lives in a variety of levels, from just enjoying the game and maybe having a poster, to naming themselves after one of the characters and living their lives as 19th century Victorians, they could get tattoos of various images from the game (or from Jacob Fryes Tattoo), and have gotten married with AC based wedding rings
(the wedding rings in question)
Clay Shirky's 'End of Audience' theory presents two main ideas that apply to this game.
-the idea that the internet and digital technologies have had a profound effect of the relations between media and individuals
Assassin's creed syndicate had a pre-determined fanbase on account of it being a part of a mainstream franchise, but the way fans interact with the product and their developers has changed since the arrival of the internet. The evolution of multiplayer games revolutionized the gaming industry as we know it, and we still see the effects of that today. The way developers changed in developing games meant we saw a change in the cultural way we play games, we see this in Syndicate through the official request for feedback on their games,
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