Soul Caliber has recently been the fighting series daring enough to bring characters in from other games and seemless transition them into the fighting arena-d world. In the past we’ve seen the likes of Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken series, Link from the Zelda series, and Spawn, from well, Spawn. But never have we been graced with the presence of a “true assassin”.

We were all excited when Ezio Auditore da Firenze was announced to be the special guest in Soul Calibur 5. There is a question that does linger in the back of our minds though. Why did Namco seek out Ezio?

Namco Bandai’s Vice President of Marketing, Calsron Choi, has explained the publisher’s reasons for working with Ubisoft to get the Master Assassin to join Soul Calibur’s ranks.

“One of the key focuses of our business when I joined the company is how do we Westernize our portfolio and make it broader. We wanted to bring in a character that works in the Western world. When you look at where Ubisoft is, especially with Ezio, it brings us in the Western market and gets everyone excited about the game,” he said.

“More importantly, the fighting style is so unique it’s a perfect fit in the Soulcalibur world, which is why we went to seek out Ubisoft. We have an opportunity to expand in the Western market, vice-versa for them they can get their character in the Eastern market. For both of us, it’s a win-win situation,” Choi added.

I’m a big fan of Ezio but never will you steal my heart from the one and only Voldo.