WEBVTT 00:00.320 --> 00:04.720 Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor. We are still at Gamescom, it's near the end of, 00:04.720 --> 00:09.040 well it is the end of day two of being on the floor here at the Colmessor. As you can probably 00:09.040 --> 00:13.840 tell by the wonderful background behind me, we're at the Assassin's Creed Jade booth in the Level 00:13.840 --> 00:18.720 Infinite booth at the, well it doesn't matter what hall we're in, but we're still at the Colmessor. 00:18.720 --> 00:22.800 And right now I'm standing here with Andre from Level Infinite to talk about this very upcoming 00:22.800 --> 00:27.200 game. It's really exciting, I love Assassin's Creed and the fact is you've brought it to mobile 00:27.200 --> 00:34.720 in quite an authentic way. So, simply put, how did you manage it? Well, I will admit that's 00:34.720 --> 00:41.920 a hard, hard work to do because, again, when we worked on this game we knew that there was a lot 00:41.920 --> 00:48.320 of expectations of what needs to be in the game to, for the game to be a proper, fully-fledged 00:48.320 --> 00:54.960 Assassin's Creed game, no matter what platform. So, to make it on mobile we had to deliver on 00:54.960 --> 01:01.440 every single expectation, like assassinations, parkour, graphics, fidelity, leap of faith, like 01:01.440 --> 01:07.280 the list is super long, like storyline as well is super important. So, all of that should be there 01:07.280 --> 01:14.240 and we cannot skip on any of that. So, we're doing that, we're still doing that, we're still not there, 01:14.240 --> 01:23.760 so, but we see the progress and our CBT also told us that the fans are seeing the progress as well. 01:23.760 --> 01:30.000 So, right now we're addressing the feedback and we'll move to CBT2 and that's how we roll, we will 01:30.000 --> 01:37.120 roll with the feedback until we get it right. And Assassin's Creed is quite a fluid brand these days, 01:37.120 --> 01:43.440 right? You know, we have the massive RPGs that have been of recent, Valhalla, Odyssey, Origins, and then 01:43.440 --> 01:47.920 in the future, very near future, we've got Mirage, which is going back to the sort of roots of the 01:47.920 --> 01:54.640 series. Whereabouts does Assassin's Creed Jade fit into that sort of scale? So, well, let's put it that 01:54.640 --> 02:01.040 way. Timeline-wise, it's after Odyssey and before Origins. If we're talking about the scale and how 02:01.040 --> 02:07.760 big the game is, so there's no other fully fledged Assassin's Creed on mobile, so it definitely will 02:07.760 --> 02:13.760 be the biggest one, but also it will be huge in terms of just the scale of the game. So, 02:14.320 --> 02:22.320 it is a very big game, it has a huge open world, it has a full story, which is part of the 02:22.320 --> 02:28.640 Assassin's Creed canon. We also will have tons of locations and characters and even will feature 02:28.640 --> 02:34.160 some of the western locations and characters, which you've seen in the other Assassin's Creed titles. 02:34.160 --> 02:41.760 So, if I just summarize it, this game will be huge. And Assassin's Creed games are all, they're all 02:41.760 --> 02:46.800 very important in regard to the stories that they tell in historical sense, right? You know, you like 02:46.800 --> 02:51.360 to make sure Assassin's Creed as a whole likes to make sure that the stories they tell are as 02:51.360 --> 02:55.200 authentic as they can be to the time periods, and that's going to be the case again with Assassin's 02:55.200 --> 02:59.600 Creed Jade. You know, it's an authentic Chinese story, as you've been telling me earlier. What's it 02:59.600 --> 03:05.920 like to get that representation with the Assassin's Creed brand? So, that's exciting. Everything 03:06.880 --> 03:13.200 about working on Assassin's Creed is exciting, and for me personally, working with any historical 03:13.200 --> 03:20.720 aspect of the games is extremely exciting. So, I used to work a lot on such games, but Chinese 03:20.720 --> 03:31.760 history is also super exotic, and it has like this flair of exotic Asian thing. So, in our case, 03:31.760 --> 03:40.800 our story would be really tied to historical facts, and some of them, you know, in a very 03:40.800 --> 03:46.160 traditional Assassin's Creed way, we will be very respectful to history and historical facts 03:46.160 --> 03:52.720 of what happens in 3rd century BC, but there will be small touches. For example, you know, 03:52.720 --> 04:00.000 the first emperor of China, he died in a mysterious way. So, that's an official thing, 04:00.000 --> 04:06.800 but in Assassin's Creed lore, he was killed by an assassin. So, that kind of thing, and having 04:06.800 --> 04:14.240 these small details, that's fascinating for me. And, well, I think there's a bit of a stigma with 04:14.240 --> 04:19.760 mobile games in general. You know, they can come across as a bit greedy at times, and I think we've 04:19.760 --> 04:24.320 seen that change as of late, and one of the games I found was really quite surprising was Diablo 04:24.320 --> 04:30.000 Immortal, because it felt like Diablo authentically on mobile. How are you looking to sort of shake 04:30.000 --> 04:34.160 that stigma as well with Assassin's Creed Jade, you know, and show people that this is, you know, 04:34.160 --> 04:40.080 as you say, it's not a mobile Assassin's Creed, it's Assassin's Creed on mobile. Yeah, so, again, 04:40.080 --> 04:46.800 that's the question about the expectations of what is Assassin's Creed. So, and we need to 04:46.800 --> 04:55.520 make sure that we fulfill every expectation of that. So, we now feel that the technology and our 04:55.520 --> 05:04.160 experience is allowing us to deliver authentic Assassin's Creed experience on mobile. So, and 05:04.800 --> 05:10.800 again, we're not yet in the monetization design stage, but what I can totally tell is that 05:11.360 --> 05:17.120 our principle is to make sure that all of the story, all of the content, and future updates to 05:17.120 --> 05:23.200 them should be free to play, and we should not pay anything for that. And also, Assassin's Creed is 05:23.200 --> 05:30.960 like, it's a single-player story game, so we will have some co-op multiplayer capabilities, 05:30.960 --> 05:37.760 but it's also co-op multiplayer capabilities. So, the pay-to-win allegations is kind of weird to 05:37.760 --> 05:45.840 have, at least at that moment. So, yeah, so that's our goal, to deliver the authentic Assassin's Creed 05:45.840 --> 05:51.040 experience, and we think that the technology and experience is already allowing us to do that. 05:51.920 --> 05:55.280 And what's it been like working with Ubisoft as well? Have they, you know, have they been 05:55.280 --> 05:59.600 really open with the Assassin's Creed brand? Have they put any kind of restrictions on you? 06:00.480 --> 06:08.320 So, there is two sides to that. So, there are things where we need to be very careful. So, the 06:08.320 --> 06:14.960 lore, and the narrative, and the whole canon of the Assassin's Creed is something which puts a lot of 06:14.960 --> 06:22.400 restrictions. We cannot just go all places and do whatever we want. We are still part of the overall 06:22.400 --> 06:28.160 lore. We need to respect all the previous Assassin's Creed series. We also need to respect all the 06:28.160 --> 06:36.880 future Assassin's Creed games, and also a whole bunch of the content which is out there. So, it is 06:36.880 --> 06:41.200 totally acceptable and totally understandable that they are very restrictive on that side. 06:42.000 --> 06:49.680 But other than that, we are working very closely with Ubisoft on many aspects, like literally every 06:49.680 --> 06:55.680 aspect of the game or operations. We are aligning with them and working pretty much as one team. 06:56.640 --> 07:02.240 And one thing I noticed recently is that the game got its official name, which, you know, for a while 07:02.240 --> 07:06.160 it was Assassin's Creed Codename Jade, and now it's Assassin's Creed Jade. What was the decision 07:06.160 --> 07:11.680 behind just dropping Codename and committing to Jade? So, that's a fun story. We've had quite a few 07:11.680 --> 07:17.680 researches, we had quite a few like focus groups, all the marketing things you do, and it turned out 07:17.840 --> 07:26.800 that the best name we have is Assassin's Creed Jade. So, sometimes it just happens that our 07:26.800 --> 07:34.560 codename was a wild guess, which would be a best name for the game. And Jade is first, it 07:34.560 --> 07:41.840 sounds really good. And also, our game is about Qin Dynasty China, which is the 07:41.840 --> 07:51.440 first empire in China, and Jade is actually called Imperial Gem, because emperors will use it a lot 07:51.440 --> 07:56.720 for all the collectibles they have, all the artifacts, and probably have the artifacts, 07:57.440 --> 08:03.840 Jade artifacts too. So, it's just the right name. And you've, as you said moments before, 08:04.800 --> 08:08.400 the game's in constant development, you're constantly listening to feedback and what 08:08.400 --> 08:12.800 fans are saying about the game before you're committing to an actual sort of release date. 08:12.800 --> 08:16.400 So, but you know, with that being the case, what sort of release window are we looking at here? Do 08:16.400 --> 08:20.720 you expect the game to launch by the end of the year? Well, not by the end of the year, because 08:21.360 --> 08:29.680 the next phase is CBT2, so there's no chance we can launch until we run CBT2, 08:29.680 --> 08:36.960 collect the feedback, and also address this feedback. So, I would say that we're committed 08:37.040 --> 08:44.000 to test the game until fans will tell us like, yes, this is authentic Assassin's Creed on mobile, 08:44.560 --> 08:51.120 this is the right experience, this is the right visual quality. So, then we'll probably sit down 08:51.120 --> 08:56.960 as a team and talk about when are we going to release that, and when are we going to deliver 08:56.960 --> 09:01.920 all other features which we still need to deliver for mobile game to be a good mobile game, 09:01.920 --> 09:06.640 not just Assassin's Creed game, but also Assassin's Creed game on mobile. 09:07.440 --> 09:12.160 And there's a final question then, for when people ultimately do get their hands on the game, 09:12.160 --> 09:16.800 or maybe as part of the CBTs that are upcoming, what's something that you're really excited for 09:16.800 --> 09:22.160 people to see for themselves and to experience in Assassin's Creed Jade? So, personally, I'm a big 09:22.160 --> 09:28.560 fan of stealth and assassinations, so I'm very proud of the assassination animations within how 09:28.560 --> 09:35.440 it feels. So, because it's a small screen, also many times you're playing without sound, so it 09:35.440 --> 09:42.640 kind of limits the way of how you can translate the feeling and the violence of that. So, I think 09:42.640 --> 09:52.560 we did a great job on that. But I also wanted for them to see our big open world of ancient China. 09:52.560 --> 09:57.440 I'm also very proud of that when you hit the synchronization points and we show you the 09:57.440 --> 10:03.360 landscape around you. I'm always excited to see that. Well, there you have it. Soon you'll be 10:03.360 --> 10:10.080 able to play Assassin's Creed Jade for yourself. If not, make sure to check out and register your 10:10.080 --> 10:14.240 interest for the upcoming closed beta test. There'll be more coming down the line. And share your 10:14.240 --> 10:19.040 feedback about the game, because Andre listens to you. Andre wants to hear more about you, your 10:19.040 --> 10:23.680 feedback about the game, and he wants to hear why you want to see this feature in the game and so 10:23.680 --> 10:27.600 forth. So, be sure to register your interest and ultimately, otherwise, look forward to seeing 10:27.600 --> 10:31.680 Assassin's Creed codename Jade, or rather Assassin's Creed Jade, when it ultimately 10:31.680 --> 10:35.520 debuts on mobile in the future. Until then, though, you know where to find more information 10:35.520 --> 10:37.520 about the game on your local Game Recs region.