Hit ‘Assassin’s Creed’ will make its literary debut

SAN FRANCISCO - Ubisoft is merging the worlds of video games and literature with the U.S. debut of a book based on its blockbuster “Assassin’s Creed” franchise.

The French video game powerhouse announced a partnership with Penguin Group to make “Assassin’s Creed Renaissance” available here beginning last week as a “stand-alone adventure novel” incorporating video game characters and story lines. The book went on sale in Britain shortly after the November release of “Assassin’s Creed II,” a sequel to a 2007 video game that has sold more than 9 million copies.

“The book deal with Penguin, along with the recent ‘Assassin’s Creed Lineage’ short film Ubisoft produced, is part of an ambitious strategy to bring the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ franchise to multiple entertainment media,” said Ubisoft senior director of consumer products Andy Swanson.

“We believe that these projects developed in tandem with the games themselves provide the player with a truly immersive experience into the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ world.”

The video game sequel is a swirl of treachery, swordplay, history and artistry set in Renaissance Italy. AFP