Big news for gamers today! It looks like ‘Assassin’s Creed’ is one step closer to being made into a feature film! Variety has reported that Sony is in final negotiations with game maker Ubisoft to adapt and distribute an ‘Assassin’s Creed’ movie franchise.

In February, Ubisoft launched Uibosft Motion pictures as a means to find entertainment partners to turn its game titles into films and TV shows. In May, they announced their plans of wanting to bring ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘Splinter Cell’, and ‘Ghost Recon’ to the big screen. That started a bidding war among the studios for ‘Assassin’s Creed’. Most franchises broker a traditional film deal that includes a one-off licensing arrangement with a studio, but Ubisoft was looking for a partner so that it can maintain a creative control over the development of how its games would be used in the movies. This seemed to be a key component to Sony’s win over the other studios for the film rights.

This is a big coup for Ubisoft as the company views movie and TV adaptations to be a way to turn its games into larger brands that will be more recognizable to additional consumers thus creating a lucrative way to bring in more revenue sources for the company. As Jean de Rivieres, senior VP of International Marketing for Ubisoft had stated, “Our strategy is not to diversify but to bolster the appeal of our franchises — that’s why we want to make sure our films will reflect the brands accurately and consolidate our fan base while expanding beyond the games’ primary target audience.”

If you’re not familiar with ‘Assassin’s Creed’, the game centers on Desmond Miles, a bar keep who finds out he comes from a long line of assassins. He is kidnapped by Abstergo Industries, a megacorporation that is a front for the Knights Templar. They are intent on gaining powerful ancient artifacts called ‘Pieces of Eden’ that will help them achieve no good. They hook Desmond up to an apparatus called an Animus that allows him to live out the lives of his ancestors and travel into the past to gather them. Eventually he is saved by his modern day colleagues and now travels back to prevent Abstergo Industries from attaining the artifacts first. That is a very brief synopsis as the story spans 3 games with the fourth installment, ‘Assassin’s Creed: Revelations’ hitting the stores on November 15.

This is not the first time ‘Assassin’s Creed’ has been made into a movie. In fact, players have already seen some of the short movies that have been included in the games. There was a 36 minute short called ‘Assassin’s Creed: Lineage’ which was a prequel to the ‘Assassin’s Creed II’ game as well as ‘Assassin’s Creed: Ascendance’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’. In the fourth game installment there is the short ‘Assassin’s Creed: Embers’ that players can view once they finish the game. You can view the shorts after the jump.

The prospect of big screen action and intrigue is obvious and with a mythology and a fan base already intact, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ has the potential of being big!  The game has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and with Ubisoft in the thick of all the planning and decision making of the film, games should be somewhat consoled that this movie will be a more accurate portrayal of the game than others have been in the past. At this time, there is no word on who will act in or direct the film.

So what do you think? Are you excited as I am for an ‘Assassin’s Creed’ movie?