Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed II sold 1.6 million in first week

by Griffin McElroy on Nov 24th 2009 10:45AM

A recent Ubisoft press release has revealed that the company is just so darn proud of its latest bundle of joy, Assassin's Creed II. According to the publisher's own internal estimates, the game has sold 1.6 million units worldwide in its first week of availability -- a 32 percent increase over the launch week sales of Assassin's Creed the First. The company also touted the game's impressive critical reception, highlighting the game's 94 percent user rating on Gamespot and an average critic's rating of 91 percent on GameRankings.com.

We're glad to hear Assassin's Creed II is doing so well despite being the follow-up to a fairly polarizing blockbuster. Also, here's a cool Digital Foundry time-lapse video showing off the game's day and night cycles. Yeah, we know that has nothing to do with what we were just talking about. Deal with it. We drop non sequiturs like Ezio Auditore drops corrupt, 15th century Italian noblemen.

Source

Tags: assassins-creed, assassins-creed-2, Microsoft, sales, ubisoft, ubisoft-montreal, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (86)

Good to see a game of substance do well for once. This is a really great game, much more fun than the first one.

It isn't Flag Hunter's Creed still, is it?

No there's no flags at all. There's 100 feathers you can find if you want but that's about it. Every other collectible is located on the map when you buy a treasure map at various art stores.

That's good to know, thanks. I like collecting side stuff in games but sometimes it's a little too much.

lol, no flags....but 100 feathers! Eh, I don't mind either way, moving around in these games is fun enough, adding random treasure hunts just gives you something to do while traveling around.

And the feathers twinkle at night a la crackdown. It's way easier to find them once the sun sets. Also I believe there's audio clues whenever you're near one.

AAARRGGHHHH! Enough with the flags! You did not HAVE to get them all in the first game. Was it an annoying achievement? YES. Could be worse, could have been as numerous as the agility orbs. It is a great game and I don't know what I will do when it is over.

I remember reading an interview with one of the creators, and he said that the flags "did absolutely nothing" and that the only reason he put them in there was to see how many people would actually waste enough time tracking them all down.

I sent my copy back for a refund. The PS3 version is a screen-tear mess.

Good on 'em, it's a great game, on my third play through now.

You're crazy.

What the hell, already?

I'm still pissed I have to play through 3/4 of the game again to get the Fly Swatter trophy. I knew I should have kicked a guard...

Wait, no you don't, do you?
I mean, replay the game in order to get missing achievements?
I think you can go to Start>DNA and then you can pick which missions you want to do over again.

If anyone can confirm this, that would be great.

"We drop non sequiturs like Ezio Auditore drops corrupt, 15th century Italian noblemen."

"the extremely rare Triple Teabag, which hasn't been seen since the Ukranian Ice Hurling team's dramatic win over Poland in the 1906 Winter Olympics."

You guys are on fire all the awesome lines out today

With all the awesome lines you've put out today*

Arghh, this is the syndrome most commonly known as "watching Doctor Who grammar fail."

A game that's not a shooter selling very well...finally.

Wii Fit? Wii Sports? Anything with the word "Wii" in the title sells billions.

he talking about a GAME

*millions

**Wii Music says hello....then cries in corner**

from wikipedia:

As of January 2009, Wii Music has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Even Wii Music has sold millions.

I'm incredibly happy the game is doing well. It's a fantastic game that should be on most people's x-mas list(if you haven't bought it already).

There's still some collection for cheevos/trophies. 100 feathers spread out throughout the whole game.

A lot less painful than the flags with a good guide. The DNA sequence secondary objectives will also show you exactly how many feathers you've collected in which sections of the city down to the quarters so it's a lot more granular and your search area if you're missing only one is greatly reduced.

Bah, this was supposed to be a reply @Samuel Vimes

Thanks Rask :)

Little snippits of insight like this help me make my purchasing decision. And definitely will be picking it up now.

Should also be noted that the feathers aren't entirely useless. Like many of the collectibles, the feathers you collect increase the value of your Villa slightly, thus increasing the money it generates. I've read that you're also rewarded at 50 feathers with a hammer weapon, and at 100 with the Auditore cape (not sure what it does though, I'm still working on the feathers myself).

Equipping the Auditore cape makes you notorious automatically in every city except the villa with no way to lower it.

Makes it a lot easier to gather a bunch of guards for the combat achievements.

the auditore cape raises your notoriety and never brings it down.

"Little snippits of insight like this help me make my purchasing decision." Wha? Isn't this the least important thing in the game?

I was so relieved when I read that post... because I am literally missing one feather and I could not imagine me searching through every city for that one damn feather lol.

1.6 million units across two platforms worldwide doesn't sound very good to me.I'm glad they are happy with the results but I thought that ACII would pull off cod and halo numbers.

"but I thought that ACII would pull off cod and halo numbers."

Uhh, what would make you think something that crazy? AC 1 sold over 8 million, but that took a while. This is doing better, but it wont sell 5 million in 1 day like COD did. It's not a shooter.

1.6 million units of anything in about a week is selling well.

most games are lucky if they sell 1million in their life time.

the >1million in the first week is not as common as you would think.

yeh but every one has just bought COD and people might not have money for Assassins Creed 2, so its most likely going to be a christmas thing and after, and btw COD may have sold 5 million in its first day, but in the second week of charts it dropped by 80% so everyone who wanted it bought it staight away, while assassins creed 2 will more likely sell at a constant rate.

I think this is my Game of the Year.
Normally, when I have lots of new games to play (and November certainly has provided), I take turns with them, playing a little at a time. But Assassin's Creed 2 is one of those fantastic games where I started playing it and neglected all other games until I finished it. And even though I finished the story, I still want to finish all the side missions and get the last 7 achievements I'm missing.

"neglected all other games"

Lol I do that alot.

How's the combat in this one? I saw the giantbomb review which mentioned that it's a little more forgiving then the first. That's what got me stuck in the first one. I think I must have botched a setup or something because I ended up having to fight 5 guys (including assassination target) and 2 archers at once. It didn't go well.

Also, can you assassinate your target without forewarning them? The first game seemed to end up with me fighting the target and a good amount of guards but I'd rather be sneaky about it. Maybe I botched the setup for those ones too though, who knows.

I was one of the few who enjoyed the first game, but I had the same problems as you - often, every assassination just degenerated into fighting the target plus all their guards, and countering until they all died.

The sequel is much better about it, as you have items like poison and smoke bombs, plus you can hire groups to help out, so there are loads of different ways to get to your target and finish them. I haven't found that much different with the combat, although you can use enemy weapons, and some soldiers have armour so the old counter-kill doesn't work.

It's a great game overall. If you didn't enjoy the first, AC2 has corrected most of the problems. If you liked the first, then it's improved on it and added loads of new stuff. Well worth a purchase.

There are a few assassinations where they'll be alerted to your presence due to certain cutscene events, like the first game, but I was able to assassinate almost everybody before alerting the guards. But like the first game, the guards will be alerted once the assassination is complete, I think.

As far as combat, there are improvements, but I found my strategy from the first game still works for most fights: hold block, and wait for them to attack so that I can counter attack.

"Also, can you assassinate your target without forewarning them? The first game seemed to end up with me fighting the target and a good amount of guards but I'd rather be sneaky about it. Maybe I botched the setup for those ones too though, who knows." You did. You should get all the objectives before assassinations and then read your notes - you'll get information about where the guards are, what's the best point for throwing knives etc. (i'm talking about the first game here)

Good. I haven't picked it up yet, so I was hoping it would succeed and not too many would pull the same trick I did (waiting until it's cheaper).

I think I'll have to get this soon just because of the setting. It's right in where I lived in Florence when I studied abroad there, had an apartment one street up from the duomo & campanile.

Unless you lived there between 1840-1856 I don't think you'll recognize your apt. =P

*1440-1456

Ugh.. What a dumb typo!

It'd be there in spirit :)

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=25%20via%20ricasoli%20firenze&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

still no cody, guy, adon confirmation post? You guys are off today!

Refresh the main page, genius.

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Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed II sold 1.6 million in first week

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