Assassin's Creed 2 will cost 20% more to make than original

Assassin's Creed 2 will cost "around 20 per cent more than the first one" to develop, according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

Speaking in an investor call to discuss the publisher's recent financial results, he explained that the bigger budget was in order to enable the creation of "bigger games with higher quality" as part of the company's four-part plan.

The other parts of that plan include entering new genres - as with Shaun White, and the newly-announced Pele football title - the internalisation of development for better control, and readying the company for future generations of consoles and new hardware.

To that end the publisher increased its investment by EUR 84 million last year, hiring 1300 more development staff and adding nine new studios to its portfolio - five acquisitions and four new creations.

Guillemot also revealed some numbers around the company's key franchises, noting the growth trend for new titles over past editions.

Far Cry 2 sold 64 per cent more than the original, while the latest Prince of Persia was up 10 per cent, Raving Rabbids up 50 per cent and Brothers in Arms jumped 35 per cent.

Additionally the casual business performed well, with sales up 43 per cent year-on-year, fuelled by strong sales in the Petz, Imaging and Coach franchises, the first two of which have now surpassed lifetime sales figures of 19 million units and 30 million units respectively.

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