Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood pre-orders "20% above" ACII

There's a pretty good reason Yves Guillemot was hesitant to confirm any years off for Assassin's Creed: it's called "money".

Speaking in an investor call after the release of Q1 results last night, the Ubisoft CEO said pre-orders for Brotherhood, which releases this Christmas, are tracking well above those seen at this point for Assassin's Creed II.

"Assassin's Creed Brotherhood should allow us to reaffirm our position as one of the industry's best multiplayer developers," he said, as reported by IGN.

"The pre-orders are the strongest ever seen, already 20 percent above those from the same period last year, even before the awards announced following E3."

Earlier on in the call, Guillemot refused to corroborate a Eurogamer story that said Assassin's Creed wouldn't see a product release in 2011.

Assassin's Creed II has been a smash hit for Ubisoft; the publisher said in May that the game has sold almost 9 million units since releasing last November.

The franchise saw lead "face" Patrice Desilet move on just before E3. Speaking in the UK last week, production manager Jean-Francois Boivin described Desilet as the "visionary" behind the series.