Exactly How Valuable is the Assassin's Creed Franchise?

As one of the biggest video game franchises to date, Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure video game series that has recently been transformed into a movie. The trailer is currently being routed in all markets with a scheduled release date of December 16th, 2016. Created by Ubisoft, the franchise consists of nine games and a variety of supporting materials.

All games take place in a fictional historical world but parallel real world events while following the struggle between Assassins and the Templars over many centuries. The Assassin’s fight for free will and peace while the Templars also desire peace through control. The series was originally inspired by Alamut, a novel from Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol and combines ideas from the popular Prince of Persia series.

History of Assassin’s Creed

Third Crusade

Initially launched in 2007 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows, the first Assassin’s Creed took place in the Third Crusade period. In 2008, Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles was released for the Nintendo DS and the most popular mobile devices. In 2009, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines was made available for the PlayStation Portable. These three fell into the Third Crusade fictional time period as well.

Renaissance

2009 also saw the release of Assassin’s Creed II for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Symbian, OnLive, OS X and Windows platforms; and Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery for the Nintendo DS and iOS. In 2010 Ubisoft launched Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OS X, Windows, Symbian and OnLive. The next year the company released Assassin’s creed Revelations for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Android, Symbian and OnLive platforms. These four releases fell in the Renaissance time period.

Colonial Era

The Colonial Era period games range from 2012 to 2014. The first launch was Assassin’s Creed III for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Windows and Symbian followed by Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows and PlayStation Vita the same year. In 2013, there was only one launch being Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows. In 2014, Ubisoft launched two new games: Assassin’s Creed Rogue for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows, as well as Assassin’s Creed Identity for Android and iOS.

French Revolution

Also in 2014 Assassin’s Creed Unity was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows platforms. This was within the French Revolution time period.

Imperial China

The Imperial China time period was launched with Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows and the PlayStation Vita in 2015. That same year, Victorian Era game, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate was launched for the same platforms except the PlayStation Vita.

Sikh Empire

Most recently, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, was launched in April 2015for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows and PlayStation Vita.

October Revolution

Launched with Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia is available for the same platforms and based on the October Revolution that occurred during the early 1900’s in Russia.

Total Sales

While UbiSoft has been around for over 30 years, their largest franchises have taken the gaming world by storm in the past nine years. As of April 2014, the series has sold over 73 million copies globally across seven PC and console entries, four handheld options, multiple mobile entries and a Facebook game to become Ubisoft’s best-selling franchise.

Theoretical Valuation of the Entire Franchise

Games

At this point it time, it can be difficult to pinpoint an exact theoretical value of the entire franchise. To date, there are 20 Assassin’s Creed games available for multiple platforms. Of course, not every game is available on every platform. The gaming portion is worth an estimated $300 million.

Comics

Additionally, there are multiple novels written as French graphic novels (comics) including:

Limited edition, 8-page Assassin’s Creed: Graphic Novel
Assassin’s Creed Volume 1: Desmond
Assassin’s Creed, Volume 2: Aquilus
Assassin’s Creed, Volume 3: Accipiter
Assassin’s Creed, Volume 4: Hawk
Assassin’s Creed, Volume 5: El Cakr
Assassin’s Creed, Volume 6: Leila
Assassin’s Creed: The Fall
Assassin’s Creed: The Chain
Assassin’s Creed: Brahman
Assassin’s Creed: Trial by Fire

These comics are not well-known and very popular so they have an estimated worth of $1 million.

Films

To this point, there have been three films released: Assassin’s Creed: Lineage (36-minutes), Assassin’s Creed: Ascendance and Assassin’s Creed: Embers. Although there is no financial value due to their release to YouTube and major platforms, these films were used to promote the franchise as a whole. However, Assassin’s Creed, the film adaptation, will be in theaters so that should generate at least $100 million globally.

Novels

There are currently eight novels available including, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed: The Secret Crusade, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed: Forsaken, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Assassin’s Creed: Underworld which could realistically gross around $10 million.

Books

Additionally, there are three versions of the Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia which entrails information about the characters and events as well as concept art. It is more of a reference to the games, comics and overall series and not meant for gameplay. Typically, only the most diehard fans purchase these types of books so they can better understand the background of the entire series. Despite all of the comprehensive information presented in this encyclopedia , the valuation is negligible at around $250,000.

Overall Valuation

Therefore, when totaling all of the valuation data, the estimated valuation of the entire franchise is currently $311 million. However, once the movie launches in theaters, that number could jump up to $400 million or more depending on its success. According to vgsales.wikia.com, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is not on the top 25 list of franchises that have made at least $500 million further justifying this number.

In recent years, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has not experienced the growth and sales as it did during the beginning and middle of the series. Therefore, launching the movie at the end of the year will have one of two results; it will tank because of lost consumer interest or it will do really well which will help boost video game sales. This will have a huge impact on the valuation of the entire franchise.