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Ubisoft sued over Assassin's Creed plot

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Author alleges that stealth action series takes premise and themes from his 2002 novel, demands more than $1 million in damages.

Murder and conspiracy are the crimes most commonly associated with the Assassin's Creed series, but one author is adding theft to the list. As reported by GamesIndustry International, science-fiction author John Beiswenger is suing Ubisoft, accusing the publisher of copyright infringement due to similarities between his 2002 novel Link and the Assassin's Creed franchise.

One writer thinks Assassin's Creed isn't so much ripped from the pages of history as it is ripped from his work.

One writer thinks Assassin's Creed isn't so much ripped from the pages of history as it is ripped from his work.

As the suit notes, "In 'Link,' the plaintiff's plot includes the conception and creation of a device and process whereby ancestral memories can be accessed, recalled, relived, and re-experienced by the user." It also contains a device to access those memories described similarly to the Animus in Assassin's Creed. The suit notes that both Beiswenger's novel and the Assassin's Creed games contain spiritual and biblical overtones, a theme of good battling evil, and interactions with historically accurate people and places.

Beiswenger is seeking $1.05 million in damages, or $5.25 million if Ubisoft is found to have willfully copied elements of Link. As of press time, Ubisoft had not returned GameSpot's request for comment.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

4 comments
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MaskedJ
MaskedJ

Weather ubisoft did get the idea for Assassin's Creed from the novel or not, I will not love the game any less. Instead, I will check out that book because if it is similar to Assassins Creed, I'm bound to like it too.

 

zpluffy
zpluffy

Well, I was skeptic at first, But read the book, Its pretty f%(&ing close. Scary

d_kell411
d_kell411

Say I write a book with a spaceship that's capable of warping through time and space and can destroy planets. Does that mean George Lucas will sue me? No, of course not. It's science fiction: The same ideas are being recycled repeatedly in alternate forms...take pleasure that Ubisoft came up with an idea somewhat similar to yours as it means you did something right. Don't sue them 5 years later because you notice they got rich and you didn't. Now that's just immature.

 

ACryingOrphan
ACryingOrphan

Maybe Nintendo will sue this guy for stealing the name of his book from one of their most well-known characters. After all if there is any connection then it HAD to have been stolen ;)

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