Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise has without a doubt taken the gaming industry by storm since the first release in 2007, both critically and commercially. Some entries have certainly been better than others, but across the six major titles and handful of spinoffs the franchise has sold over 73 million copies.
This makes Assassin's Creed Ubisoft's best-selling property by some distance. The Just Dance series has sold 48 million units, a good way behind, and most of the titles in the series have been quite well-received.
We already knew the franchise was a hot-seller, having heard sales were around the 60 million mark when Ubisoft last release their figures. Climbing an additional 13 million copies is an increase I'm sure they'll be happy with, however, even though Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag took a sales dip compared to its predecessor (despite being a much better game).
The original Assassin's Creed laid the groundwork for the franchise's trademark city-climbing and free-running gameplay, but was very repetitive in its quests and is not as tight an experience as its successors. Still, it was a good enough game on its own and was improved upon with AC II, as well as AC: Revelations and Brotherhood.
Assassin's Creed III was something of a disappointing downturn despite the exciting-sounding setting of the American Revolution, but AC IV: Black Flag very pleasantly surprised most of us with its focus on excellent naval combat and ship-upgrading features.
Perhaps being split across last generation consoles and the new hardware has affected Black Flag's sales, but I recommend everyone check it out, even if you have not played the previous games (it's probably the least story-relevant, anyway).
Ubisoft has been picking up some criticism for how frequently new titles in the series are released (pretty much annually, if not more frequently), which can cheapen a franchise. Nevertheless, the existence of upcoming new entries into the series were leaked a few weeks ago, and we can officially expect Assassin's Creed: Unity out later this year.
Source: IGN
