Assassin's Creed declines following reviews

Ubisoft's much anticipated Assassin's Creed saw its stocks and futures take a hit yesterday following weaker than expected reviews. Market trading of the game's Metacritic Futures had expected a 95 Metascore for the Xbox 360 and a 96 Metascore for the PS3 version. As reviews of the game came in, Metacritic posted preliminary Metascores in the low 80s. The Metacritic future for the PS3 version dropped to as low as 80 before climbing back to 83.64, a 12.9% decline. The Xbox 360 version dropped to as low as 84.34 but managed to close at 88.10, a 7.7% decline. Metacritic is currently showing an 84 for both versions.

The lifetime global stocks were also hard hit. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) had been a high flyer, but shares dropped from 285.11 DKP down to a low of 216.19 DKP yesterday before closing at 233.46, an 18.1% decline. Shares continue lower today. Assassin's Creed (PS3) also declined, dropping 4.7% to 141.71 DKP. The lighter drop may be the result of a smaller rally in its shares compared with the Xbox 360 version leading up to the game's release. However, the NPD November Future for the PS3 version of Assassin's Creed only fell 1.2%, indicating that the market does not believe the lower reviews will affect initial sales as much. Many early customers may have already pre-ordered the game or already hit the stores before checking the reviews. Other implications of a smaller decline for the PS3 version may be that the title remains a strong value for PS3 gamers, while the Xbox 360 version faces stiff competition from many of the other games available on the platform.