Ubisoft: Assassin’s Creed co-op is ‘super-interesting’, but doesn’t make sense

The idea could work from a ‘pure mechanical angle’, but would be hard to reconcile with the narrative.

By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell, July 8, 2010



It’s an upsetting truth that sometimes, really great ideas just don’t work. Even when they’re mine. Case in point: while playing a multiplayer build of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, recently on show at a preview event in London, I was struck by how wonderful it might be to add drop-in co-op to the single player.


Just imagine entering into another assassin’s game, tracking him patiently through the world and excavating his Adam’s apple with a wristblade right on the verge of some key objective. Or conversely, helping him to spruce up run-down parts of the city of Rome. Bloody marvellous.


When I broached the topic with the game’s Associate Producer, Jean-Francois Boivin, he was a little less enthused. It seems the random interventions of other players wouldn’t really gel with Assassin’s Creed’s tightly conceived story arch.


‘You have to come back to the universe of Assassin’s Creed and what Assassin’s Creed is, because Assassin’s Creed is the story of Desmond Miles and a machine called the Animus in which he relives his ancestors’ genetic memories,’ Boivin explained. ‘So to justify something like co-op, you would have to have in our universe with Desmond, the assassin and the Templars… you’d have to find subjects that had ancestors in the same time period, as for example in this case Ezio, in the same area and have a separate Animus.


‘Once again, you have to be smart about it – it’s a very complex universe. It’s very easy to find logic holes, and once you do you become cheap. And we’re not cheap, we want to stay true to the complexity of the universe, and I think that’s what makes Assassin’s Creed a very fine game and a very unique game, the overarching storyline of it.’


Boivin was prepared to admit however that the idea in itself, considered apart from questions of narrative, had merit. ‘The co-op on a pure mechanical angle is super-interesting, and what you say about other people having an influence on the city and whatnot, whether it be positive or negative, as a player is super-interesting.


‘But it doesn’t make sense. And if it doesn’t make sense we can’t do it, we won’t do it.’ Can’t say plainer than that.


Read the full interview here, and look out for Brotherhood on 16th November.


12 Responses to “Ubisoft: Assassin’s Creed co-op is ‘super-interesting’, but doesn’t make sense”

  1. Caemgen says:

    This is nonsense.

    Co-op could be amazing if the second (and/or third and fourth) player would just play with random ‘mission based’ sidecharacters, such as a thief or a fellow assassin that lived in that time.

    The player that plays Ezio would only be able to finish his mission and complete his tasks, if the other players succeed in completing theirs, such as opening a door, clearing an area or taking out a ‘sniper’ in one of the towers.

    Co-op could be amazing, but the devs are just too lazy, or Ubisoft isn’t willing to spend the money/time on it because they want to make money ASAP.

    • Zebz says:

      I think that would be a great idea and super fun.
      Very nice comment!
      But the sad thing is that i dont belive Ubisoft wont read this and if they do they probably dont care about what we think since we are only 2 who have left any comments.

    • Altair says:

      I completely Agree with u but i hate the fact that Ubisoft doesn’t give a crap about what we do and i am sick and tired of those “creators” just ignoring what the common people of “Assassins Creed Brother Hood”. So, Yes i think it would draw in more money, and as EVERYBODY knows, more people = more money. IT WOULD BE THE BEST THING, OTHER THAN ONLINE MULTIPLAYER,THAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE ASSASSINS CREED SERIES!

  2. assassin says:

    why the hell would ubisoft do such a dumb thing im not buying this game any more! every one i know wants coop and thought there would be coop with alll of those cool charracters in the trailer.you idiot devs in ubisoft grow a brain and spend more money/time and you’ll get a fortune! and now that i got this dissapointing news im going to spread it threw every where and now your gunnna be making less money. im just saying put more damn time in it look at this and maybe you’ll change your mind f*** the devs go to their faces and say f*** you! and look at this comment and do his s*** right now or i’ll f*** you in the a*******************************************************!

  3. Creed says:

    this is the most illogical and “no sense” making piece on this game that I have ever read. You talk about making sense and staying true to the universe, but your story involves ancient Roman/Greek gods that over watch the Earth. Cmon that’s extremely hypocritical. The guys at Ubisoft are losing it, their games blow.

  4. Jerobo says:

    Some of you idiots should stop playing games and read a book or two. You write like retards.

    Also, your nerd (not smart nerd tho, btw) rage entertains me.

  5. Kilz says:

    My friend and I would like to see a assassin’s creed co-op split and/or full screen (prefer full ^^) when one is playing campaign and the other side character (any character that allies with the assassin, but it will work better if it a member of the assassin’s guild). you can also which the story at the same time also built in mic so you can chat so you know who doing to do wat in the mission. Like ACB the assassin’s we see at the trailer would be cool to play as one of them in Ezio time and that would have be perfect to use the co-op feature too. I know single player is good but it would kill to try it since that it something new on the table since most player like co-op campaign like army of two and Call of duty World at war (i think that a split screen). I think i might know where AC3 is heading but i want to wait and see if im right

  6. Kaine says:

    I agree It would be so sick if they made co-op and you can have it make sense if you put in the story line that Ezio meets a rogue thief who is seriously skilled and adopts him into the Brotherhood. You can have Ezio, the kick-ass assassin, and then another character a sly thief who can work with Ezio on missions and be super stealthy and agile to get to places Ezio cant or spy on people to get info and steal key items to help Ezio. That would be totally sick i would like the game even more. DO IT

  7. Tre says:

    I think that they should have twin assassins so that they would both be desmonds ancestors. In the story a second player could drop in and out of gameplay. Outside of the story they could have fun minigames like capture the flag or assassinate the most targets.

  8. steve says:

    Either way I would love co op ability with this game, has anyone played mercenaries 2, same concept, it doesn’t have to really go with the story so your not dependant on the character, but still would be awesome to roam the roof top with a friend, or do something along the lines of red dead.

  9. Ben says:

    Perhaps instead of it being another person in Animus, the second player could be a companion that the main character meets along the way. It would be like someone that Desmond is remembering through his ancestor’s memory.

  10. Mick says:

    I think they should put ezio and Altair 2 amazing assasins

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