Today, Ubisoft® announced collaborations with a host of acclaimed publishers, talented authors and illustrators to continue expanding the Assassin’s Creed universe to new forms of media. Assassin’s Creed fans around the world can find out more about the various stories springing from their favourite franchise by visiting the new website detailing the publishing line for 2021 and beyond at www.assassinscreed.com/stories
With the upcoming launches of new novels, graphic novels, manhuas**, webtoons*** and more recently a series of podcasts*, the Assassin’s Creed narrative is expanding across all formats: novels, illustrated fiction, and digital works. “With a license as rich as Assassin’s Creed, many creators are excited to offer their vision of the franchise!” explained Aymar Azaïzia, Transmedia Director at Ubisoft Montreal. “It’s a great creative opportunity to publish a work that is relevant to the genre in question and produced by authors or illustrators who are recognised in their field.”
Ubisoft is currently working with a large network of publishing partners, each bringing their own expertise, to further develop the Assassin’s Creed universe. Aconyte Books, Editis, and Starfish are developing original novels in their respective languages (English, French, and Chinese). On the comics and graphic novels front, Glenat will publish original French graphic novels, while Dark Horse Comics has released an Assassin’s Creed comics mini-series in English and Ulab has developed original manhuas. On the digital side, Chinese partner Ximalaya is about to launch its first Assassin’s Creed narrative podcast, while Korean studio Redice will produce the first Assassin’s Creed webtoon ever.
To better classify the wide range of existing and upcoming Assassin’s Creed transmedia offerings, Ubisoft is creating three labels that will help fans to choose their next read:
- Classics: direct adaptations based on stories from the video games
- Chronicles: new adventures featuring favourite iconic Assassins
- Originals: new narratives featuring new protagonists and time periods
Some of the newest transmedia creations this year come from collaborations with talented Asian authors and artists, notably in China, Japan and Korea, with several manhuas or webtoons currently in development. “With so many creators from all over Asia delivering innovative content, a priority for Ubisoft has been to forge new relationships with talented partners in the region”, highlighted Julien Fabre, Associate Director of Publishing at Ubisoft.
By bringing talent from all other the world to craft new transmedia narratives, Ubisoft aims to enrich the Assassin’s Creed universe with stories that are authentic and that resonate with local fans. “We are all consumers of stories. With this global vision and local approach, we seek to offer our fans new content in formats they are familiar with, and with stories that are rooted in their cultural background and their history,” adds Etienne Bouvier, Publishing Content Manager at Ubisoft.
Here is a selection of the new releases slated for this year:
NOVELS:
- ASSASSIN’S CREED® FRAGMENTS YOUNG ADULT TRILOGY (ORIGINALS): Fragments is a new young adult book series developed in partnership with the French publishing house Editis. This action-adventure historical fiction saga will feature teens caught up in the centuries-old Assassin-Templar feud and explore the nature of the relationship between the siblings. Each book in the series will take readers to a different time period and location, with new protagonists. The first volume is set in 19th Century Japan, the second in 13th Century Scotland and the third in 17th Century France.
- ASSASSIN’S CREED® THE JADE SEAL COLLECTION (ORIGINALS): From the Zhou Dynasty (4th Century BC) to the Ming Dynasty (17th Century), this collection expands our franchise through a range of ten novels exploring Chinese history at large. Emperors, courtiers, legendary martial artists, poets, philosophers, and many other important figures from Chinese history will play their part in this multi-secular fight. New Assassins, but also new arch-enemies will join the ranks of our franchise from these epic novels written by six well-known Chinese writers and soon to be available in China.
- ASSASSIN’S CREED® THE MING STORM (CHRONICLES): Written by bestselling Chinese author Yan Leisheng, this novel is the start of an action-packed trilogy set in 16th century China featuring Shao Jun , a young Assassin and already a fan favorite from the franchise as the main protagonist of the Assassin’s Creed: China video game. Aconyte Books, Ubisoft’s key partner for English prose novels, will publish the Ming Storm in the US and Canada on 1st June, 2021. More exciting new novels, including a trilogy of books set in the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla universe, are to be released by Aconyte in 2022.
ILLUSTRATED FICTION:
- ASSASSIN’S CREED® DYNASTY (MANHUA) (ORIGINALS): First launched as a webcomic in China by local development partner ULAB, Assassin’s Creed Dynasty has already garnered more than 150 million views online, and ranked top 3 of the Wuxia genre on Tencent platform. It will soon be available in other territories in paperback. Readers will be able to follow the adventures of Li E, an Assassin trying to save the Tang Dynasty from a civil war.
- Assassin’s Creed® VALHALLA: BLOOD BROTHERS (MANHUA) (CHRONICLES): Fans will soon be able to discover the epic tale of two brave Viking brothers in this manhua set in the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, not long before the exploits of Eivor the Wolf-Kissed.
- Assassin’s Creed® VALHALLA FRENCH GRAPHIC NOVEL (CHRONICLES): Glénat Editions will release this original graphic novel in Fall 2021 in France. Readers will discover the tale of an aspiring Assassin and a Christian monk, as they set out on a quest that will take them from Ravensthorpe to the mystery-filled heights of Scotland.
DIGITAL:
- ASSASSIN’S CREED® TURBULENCE IN THE MING DYNASTY PODCAST (CHRONICLES): Developed and broadcasted by China’s leading podcast platform Ximalaya, this audio adaptation of the Ming Dynasty novel is voiced by a first-rate cast from the Chinese film industry, including Liu Yan as Shao Jun. Enriched with audio FX and a moving score, this podcast is the perfect format to become fully immersed in China during 16th Century Ming Dynasty.
- WEBTOON (ORIGINALS): This Korean webtoon will serve as a sequel to Assassin’s Creed® Black Flag and expand Edward Kenway’s storyline. It is currently in development with partner Redice.
For more information about the Assassin’s Creed Content Library, please visit our new dedicated website: www.assassinscreed.com/stories
For more information about Assassin’s Creed, please visit: assassinscreed.com.
For the latest news on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and other Ubisoft games, visit news.ubisoft.com.
*Podcast series: Audio drama format with multiple actors recorded
**Manhua: Chinese comics
***Webtoon: Korean webcomic optimized for smartphone devices
About Assassin’s Creed
Since it first launched in 2007, the Assassin’s Creed series has sold more than 155 million games worldwide. The franchise is now established as one of the best-selling series in video game history. Recognized for having some of the richest, most engrossing storytelling in the industry, Assassin’s Creed transcends video games, branching out into numerous other entertainment media.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, For Honor, Just Dance, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy’s video game series including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six and The Division. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2019–20 fiscal year, Ubisoft generated net bookings of €1,534 million. To learn more, please visit: www.ubisoftgroup.com.
© 2021 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are registered or unregistered trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries.
Publishing Partners:
NOVELS
404 Editions
Created in January 2016 within the group edi8/Editis, 404 Publishing is the publishing house entirely dedicated to pop culture. Always searching for new tendencies and innovative formats, 404 Publishing is the publisher of fiction, escape books, escape games, video games’ guides, and talented youtubers.
About Editis
Part of the group Vivendi since February 2019, Editis is a French leader in publishing, gathering 48 prestigious publishing houses. With a wide portfolio of internationally renowned authors, 4000 new titles published each year and a catalogue of more than 45,000 titles, Editis operates in the fields of general literature, pocket format literature, practical books, children books, illustrated books, educative and reference books. Learn more at www.editis.com
Aconyte
Aconyte is the novels division of Asmodee Entertainment, to deliver on the Asmodee slogan: “Great games, amazing stories!”, and to create new and exciting content to be leveraged on further entertainment platforms as we strive to create truly global brands.
About Asmodee Entertainment
Asmodee Entertainment is a platform of games publisher and distributor Asmodee. Its mission is to extend Asmodee’s intellectual properties into TV/film, novels and comics, location based-entertainment, and consumer products, working closely with Asmodee Boardgames and Asmodee Digital. Through best-in-class partnerships across the full spectrum of opportunities, Asmodee Entertainment will create truly global intellectual properties and brands.
Starfish
Starfish is dedicated to the development of publications and creative products centred on large IPs. We focus on official publications of movies, TV series, games and animations that enjoy worldwide audiences, and have established, both online and offline, product lines containing literatures, comics, illustrated books and board games.
ILLUSTRATED
Dark Horse
Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics is an excellent example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and transform a company with humble beginnings into an industry giant. Under a new partnership with Vanguard Visionary Associates, Dark Horse is positioned to further expand its reach globally with publishing, products, and filmed entertainment. Over the years, Dark Horse has published the work of creative legends such as Yoshitaka Amano, Margaret Atwood, Paul Chadwick, Geof Darrow, Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Faith Erin Hicks, Kazuo Koike, Matt Kindt, Jeff Lemire, Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Moebius, Chuck Palahniuk, Wendy Pini, and Gerard Way. In addition, Dark Horse has a long tradition of establishing exciting new creative talent throughout all of its divisions. The company has also set the industry standard for quality licensed comics, graphic novels, collectibles, and art books, including Stranger Things, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Dragon Age, James Cameron’s Avatar, Game of Thrones, Mass Effect, StarCraft, The Witcher, and Halo. Today, Dark Horse Comics is one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers.
Glénat
Created in 1969, Glénat is one of the largest independent publishers in the French book industry. We release more than 650 books a year in 3 main fields: graphic novels and Japanese manga which account 8000 titles in a variety of genres ; children’s books with Glénat Jeunesse and P’tit Glénat labels ; and illustrated books about mountain, sea and gastronomy. With its 51 years of experience, Glénat is one of the top 3 graphic novel publishers in France and a key player in the French book industry.
Shogakukan
Shogakukan, founded in 1922, began by launching learning magazines targeting elementary school children. Currently, while expanding from children fs magazines to the general magazine field, it has also become a general publishing company with a book division that eleases picture books, pictorial guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, literary works, etc. Sunday GX launched in 2000, monthly manga magazine issued on the 19th of every month. The concept is “Extremely brave and tough Heroines!” and has produced a number of high quality works. Total magazine volume is over 800 pages (online contents included).
DIGITAL
Ximalaya
Ximalaya, with the mission of “sharing human wisdom with sound”, pioneered the PUGC content ecology, which not only leads the innovation of the audio industry, but also attracts attention from the culture and self-media people who devote themselves to audio content entrepreneurship, including Ma Dong, Wu Xiaobo, Gao Xiaosong , Cai Kangyong, Li Kaifu, Chen Zhiwu, Guo Degang, Feng Lun, Gong Linna, Hua Shao, Huang Jianxiang and other self-media giants and 7 million voice anchors. They jointly created 328 categories of voices covering finance, music, news, business, novels, automobiles, etc. content. So, CCTV News, People’s Daily Review, Sina, Forbes, 36Kr, Sanlian Life Weekly and other 5000 media and Alibaba, Baidu, KFC, Durex, L’Oreal and more than 3000 brands have also entered Himalaya.
Redice studio
RedIce is one of Korea biggest webtoon studios with multi-million views projects such as Solo Leveling. The company has strong ties with the publishing and the audiovisual industries, and is able to distribute webtoons worldwide in multiple languages on all the biggest platforms.
ULAB
New Comics, founded by ULAB Co., Ltd, is one of China’s boutique comic platforms that has produced many critically acclaimed comics under its banner, including the bestseller Blades of the Guardians.
