Ubisoft recently filed its fourth quarter and year end reports for fiscal 2013, reporting total sales of €1.26 billion for the year ($1.66 billion), an 18.4% increase on FY2012, and €175 million for the quarter ($230 million), an 8.7% year-on-year increase.

Far Cry 3 was one of the major movers and shakers behind this bounty, having shipped 6 million units, but The Settlers Online and Just Dance were also major performers, with Ubisoft highlighting the performance of free-to-play and casual games. The publisher noted that Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance had joined the ranks of the 20 best-selling franchies in the industry during the year.

It also revealed that the tepidly-received Assassin’s Creed III managed to ship 12.5 million units, including digital sales. During a post-release call to investors, Ubisoft said that it isn’t banking on Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag to do the same.

“In our numbers we expect less than last year,” CEO Yves Guillemot said.

“We are actually pushing to achieve more than last year because we think the pirate segment is a great segment that can generate a lot more on a worldwide basis than what was achieved last year. But we wanted to be prudent on our expectations so that it can probably be a bonus if it comes.”

Other reveals from the call include word of the shelving of Patrice Desiléts’s 1666.

Source: Ubisoft IR via Blue’s News

The Infamy is the first of three episodes that will eventually make up Ubisoft’s latest DLC for Assassin’s Creed III, The Tyranny of King Washington. As the title implies, this singleplayer-only add-on is an alternate history to the already convoluted alternate history of Assassin’s Creed III.

When considering the possibilities for the next Assassin’s Creed, Alex Walker hopes Ubisoft doesn’t overlook the rich history of the Boxer Rebellion. Set in China between 1898 and 1901, a secret society of martial artists who believed they possessed extraordinary abilities tried to overthrow the government, with international consequences.

We all knew it was going to be big, and indications are that it’s selling pretty well indeed. Assassin’s Creed 3 has announced that they’ve passed the seven million sales mark, with little indication of stopping.

Assassin’s Creed III is now officially the fastest-selling game in Ubisoft’s history, rather overshadowing their recently-released Far Cry 3 which is unfortunate as here at games.on.net we happen to think Far Cry 3 is pretty great.

“In solo missions alone, players have accumulated more than 82 centuries of gaming time and committed more than 3 billion assassinations,” reads a celebratory press release. “The deadly action continues in the multiplayer, where more than twice as many players have joined the multiplayer mode compared to Assassin’s Creed® Revelations. To date, more than 250 million assassinations have been performed in more than 5 billion multiplayer sessions.”

For our thoughts on Assassin’s Creed III, check out our PC review.

Although it seems like Assassin’s Creed is headed to Brazil in the next game, right now we’re looking at DLC for the current game and it’s an alternate reality where George Washington, far from being twelve storeys high and made of radiation, is actually a tyrannical dictator-king.

Bizarrely, since Assassin’s Creed itself is set in an alternate reality where you can look at your own DNA and discover how many people your great-great-great-grandmother stabbed, presumably this is some sort of alternate alternate reality. If that makes any sense. Hey, a trailer!

Looking to explore Brazil in the next Assassin’s Creed? Well, your strangely specific wish will be granted, it seems – Ubisoft Brazil managing director Bertrand Chaverot has allegedly told Brazilian site techtudo that the next instalment of Ubisoft’s flagship franchise will take place there.

That’s unfortunately all there is to know. Gamespot, who broke the news, claim to have verified the translation — and they also point out that Assassin’s Creed III did, in fact, have some levels set in Brazil.

Source: Gamespot

Despite being out on the consoles for several weeks, Assassin’s Creed III has only just launched today on PC in Australia. Jason Imms jumps in to see if the biggest title yet in one of gaming’s biggest franchises might have got a little too big for its boots.

Although Assassin’s Creed III doesn’t release on PC until Friday in Australia, it’s out in the US as of tomorrow — but some naughty person has grabbed it a day early and is posting video of it across the internet. Here, then, are fourteen minutes of AC3 PC gameplay, comprising the first mission of the game. Take a look.

Source: PCGamesN

As is the fashion of the time, a Reddit AMA thread has revealed some interesting new information with regards to an upcoming game – specifically, Assassin’s Creed 3‘s delayed PC release.

Creative Director Alex Hutchinson confirmed that the PC version of AC3 will have all the patches to date, including some that are just now going for certification. “Lots of bug fixes incoming,” he wrote. “PC release will include the first two patches on release.”

Meanwhile, Senior Community Developer Gabe Graziani mentioned that the team have “added a lot more detail to the PC version and support for DX11″, and “it will be less buggy than the console versions (as they were at the time of console launch),” but “the console and PC versions will be comparable at PC launch.”

Source: Reddit

You may have heard that Assassin’s Creed III will employ microtransactions in its multiplayer — something called ‘Erudito credits’ have been popping up in console marketplaces, but no mention of what they might be.

Their function has been revealed though, in a statement from Ubisoft. And it is a little worrying. “The Erudito Credits are a new way of unlocking content in ACIII Multiplayer. People who have little time can use Erudito Credits as a shortcut to unlock game items from level 1 to 50 (excluding Prestige levels and relics rewards). This is not mandatory, all items sold in Erudito Credits are also available in Abstergo Credits and can be unlocked through normal progression like previous years.”

While this isn’t the first time a title has created its own currency to help you buy items, Assassin’s Creed III‘s multiplayer is competitive. In a competitive multiplayer setting, having what sounds like a pay-to-win system in place doesn’t seem to engender fairness or fun — as Worthplaying points out, the description for Erudito points explicitly says you can buy items “disregarding your current level”.

Having said that, there is a certain “Prisoner’s Dilemma”-style evil genius to it. “If everyone else is going to do it, I should do it as well, or I’ll be left behind. I should do it first!” Be honest, will you be partaking of Ubisoft’s apparently Machiavellian scheme?

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

With Assassin’s Creed III only a few days away from launching — on consoles, at least — the launch trailer has just been released by Ubisoft and it shows Connor at the forefront of the civil war. It’s pretty stirring stuff, so take a look below, or if you’d like to see it for yourself in HD, why not download it from our file library?

Source: Press Release

Ubisoft have revealed that Desmond Miles’ story will wrap up with Assassin’s Creed III, leaving many punters with an emotion best described as “relief”. One of the major criticisms levelled at the now-iconic series has been the stalling of the underlying plot, and it seems like AC3 will resolve that for us.

“What we’re trying to do is bring some finality to Desmond’s story,” said Ubisoft’s Steve Masters to OXM. “To actually wrap up what you’ve opened and experienced with him. So we’re trying to make it a little bit more direct with the storyline, but at the same time there are still going to be plenty of little mysterious bits for you to dig into, especially in the side stuff.”

Masters also addressed fan frustration with the lack of progress on the game’s metaplot, saying “We wanted there to be a big leap forward in the story. And we wanted you to feel a good sense of progress in what’s going on in the story.”

“A lot of the misdirection and the way we’ve been meandering a little bit has been kind of frustrating as a player and for the audience, so we wanted to make sure there was going to be more substance to get your teeth into.”

For more on Assassin’s Creed III, why not check out our hands-on preview?

Source: OXM