AC: Brotherhood isn't a 12-month game, assures Ubi

Bit of a sharp turnaround on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, wasn't it? Not so. Multiplay's been in the works for two years, apparently.

When GSW asked producer Vincent Pontbriand how he's managed to make such a large game in 12 months, the answer was simple: he hasn't had to.

"The trick is that we actually had more time than that," he said. "A lot of the research had already been done for the city and history of Rome itself. We knew where we wanted to go with the story and already had a lot of gameplay prototypes and new concept we had previously brainstormed."

The game's multiplayer component has been on the go for a good amount of time, Pontbriand added.

"The multiplayer has been in production for over two years. Finally, when pure production started on the single-player, we had the most experienced and motivated team so it made my job a lot easier."

Director Gaelec Simard admitted that the campaign's dev period has been short, but mitigating factors have allowed the production of a suitable product.

"For the single-player, it is true that the dev period was short but many factors made it possible," he said.

"We started the game with the engine that had shipped ACII so it gave us a good start while we developed all the new tech.

"The dedicated team has been working together since ACI so we know how to make an AC game and we knew what could be done in that amount of time. Using our other AAA studios also permitted us to create a huge game by outsourcing parts of the game to them.

"The rest was just keeping a clear head, communicating and just ship a game that we all wanted to play."

Got it? It's not going to be rubbish, even if ACII only released last November.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood releases on November 16 in the US and November 19 in the UK for PS3 and 360.

It’s out for PC next year.