What company secretly controls the Templars in the modern-day story of Assassin’s Creed?

Abstergo Industries is the company secretly controlling the Templars in Assassin’s Creed’s modern-day story.

Abstergo presents itself as a powerful multinational corporation, but it is also the modern face of the Templar Order. Its research includes the Animus, a machine that lets users experience genetic memories inherited from their ancestors.

In the first game, Desmond Miles is taken to an Abstergo facility and forced to use the Animus. The company wants information connected to the Pieces of Eden, powerful artifacts that can influence human behavior and perception.

Abstergo is not the same organization as the historical Order of Ancients, which appears in Assassin’s Creed Origins. The Order of Ancients is an earlier secret society that later develops into the Templar tradition, while Abstergo is its modern corporate expression.