14 DAY TRIAL // French video game publisher Ubisoft has announced that it is creating a collection of merchandise based around its video game universes called UbiCollectibles, which will allow fans to pick up items based upon well-known franchises like Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, Might & Magic and more.
At the moment, the merchandise will only be available on the UbiShop, the virtual store the company maintains, and a number of items are already prepared for pre-order for European customers.
One of the highlights of the UbiCollectibles line-up is a crafted statuette called Ezio's Fury, which will be highly detailed and will only be available initially to 2,000 fans of the Assassin's Creed series.
The statuette can be seen in the image attached to this article and shows Ezio ready to fight his enemies, a pose that many players already know from the last two Assassin's Creed video game.
Those who live Might & Magic can prepare for the launch of the sixth game in the Heroes series by picking up one of the 500 figurines that depict Archangel, one of the main characters of the new game, with his wings spread and his sword ready to cut through enemies.
Ghost Recon players will be able to get T-shirts like those that were worn by the development team at the E3 2011 trade expo.
Geoffroy Sardin, who is the chief marketing and sales officer Ubisoft for the European, Middle East and Asia division, has stated, “UbiCollectibles are designed to give true fans something special. Each item is a custom-designed, limited edition, created to give fans an exceptional way to deepen their experience with their favorite Ubisoft universes.”
Ubisoft says that it plans to also launch lithographs, replicas, jewelry, more figurines and other items in the UbiCollectibles collection.
Traditionally, figurines and other items have been successfully used by video game publishers in order to drum up interest in Collector's Edition packages for their popular games.
It's not clear how successful such items can be on their own, without being clearly linked to a newly launched title.