Assassin's Creed II pre-orders rocket

Ubisoft predicts smash hit

p>Pre-orders of Assassin's Creed II are up a gigantic 80 percent over the original Ubisoft hit. That's the word in from CEO Yves Guillemot who is clearly expecting big things from the latest in the series.

Guillemot's stats stand in stark contrast with those of one Janco analyst, who predicted that pre-orders were only up 15 to 20 percent.

Guillemot tells Ubisoft investors that he expects total sales to be some 15 to 25 percent higher than the original game, making Assassin's Creed II perhaps this Christmas season's second biggest release to Modern Warfare 2 alone.

Guillemot also talks up the importance of an epic marketing deal backing the game, in collaboration with Sony.

By Luke Guttridge