Ubisoft Experimented With Multiplayer for First Assassin's Creed - Report

Ubisoft experimented with a multiplayer mode for the original Assassin's Creed before ultimately cutting it. That's according to former Ubisoft technical director Julien Merceron, who shared the news morsel this week during a presentation at the Cité des Sc iences et de l'Industrie in Paris.

According to DualShockers, which attended the event, Merceron also revealed that Assassin's Creed shipped in 2007 with a bug that allowed players to potentially discover the multiplayer mode, or at least a part of it.

From the report:

"In fact there was a bug: while he doesn't know when it was patched, at some point, if a second controller was plugged into the console, a second assassin would appear on screen," DualShockers wrote. "The team didn't even test those features as they thought they were disabled, and that’s how the bug appeared."

No further details are available about what Assassin's Creed's multiplayer mode would have looked like.

After leaving Ubisoft, Merceron joined Square Enix and later Konami. He left the Metal Gear Solid publisher in September and just recently joined Bandai Namco.

The first Assassin's Creed console game to feature multiplayer was 2012's Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. The latest installment in the series, this year's Assassin's Creed Syndicate, does not feature a multiplayer mode. That's because Ubisoft wanted to return to the franchise's roots.

"The reason we are doing this is to really focus on the roots of the franchise," creative director Marc-Alexis Cote said earlier this year. "That's why all nine studios are focused on delivering this single-player experience."