Fittingly, there is only one big-name, multiplatform game comfortable in the shadow of
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release next month:
Assassin's Creed 2. While it's not the only game willing to test its selling power against the
potential "
bestselling title of all time" --
Left 4 Dead 2 seems aptly titled; and
New Super Mario Bros. Wii should collect coin on its platform --
Assassin's Creed 2 is easily November's
second-most significant multi-console release.
When pressed for comment about
AC2 going up against
MW2 and the possibility of his game (ha!) surpassing Infinity Ward's shooter in sales, Yannis Mallat, CEO of
AC2 developer Ubisoft Montreal, admitted to
VideoGamer.com that he was not "pretentious" enough to predict a sales outcome, but added, "I can certainly say there is no room any more for average or bad games, but there is still a lot of room for awesome games, and that's what
Assassin's Creed is."
Internally, Ubisoft has set its standards high --
two years ago, the first
Assassin's Creed moved 2.5 million units in its first month at retail to become the fastest-selling new game IP in U.S. history. Of course, two years ago,
Call of Duty 4 was
claiming records of its own. Ubisoft would not dare pit
AC2 against
MW2 in an outright sales challenge, but, in embodying its franchise's ethos, with a little patience, Ubisoft will almost certainly enjoy successful sales of
AC2 over the course of the holiday season. After all, who among us has ever been content to settle on just one
awesome game when there are many to enjoy?