The first Assassin's Creed game launched worldwide in 2007.
Ubisoft released the game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007, followed by a Windows version in April 2008. The original title introduced players to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, an Assassin operating in cities including Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus during the Third Crusade.
Its design combined open-world traversal with social stealth, investigations, assassination missions, and parkour across dense historical environments. The modern-day storyline also established the series' framing device involving genetic memories and the Animus.
The franchise grew into a large multimedia property with sequels, spin-offs, novels, comics, and a feature film. Later games moved to different periods, including Renaissance Italy, the Caribbean pirate era, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and Viking-age England. The original 2007 release remains distinct from Assassin's Creed II, which followed in 2009 and began Ezio Auditore's story.