Ubisoft's chief sales and marketing officer has hinted that a movie based on the Assassin's Creed video game could be out as early as next year.

Geoffroy Sardin told Gamesindustry International that the film was part of a number of spin-offs that Ubisoft was planning.

"Another thing that is very important for the lifecycle is the transmedia offer," Sardin said. "All the figurines, the books, the publishing, and we have a movie in the next coming year. So it's not only about games, we are talking about a global brand, and this is the life cycle management we want to set up now."

The action-packed open-world stealth video game features the protagonist Desmond Miles, a bartender descended from several lines of prominent assassins, who is transported back to the era of the Crusades.

Assassin's Creed III was released in October for the Xbox and PlayStation 3 consoles, with a Windows and Wii U version expected later this month.

Ubissoft had announced back in October that it was teaming up with New Regency to make a film version of the popular series.

"Ubisoft chose to partner with New Regency because they are a talent-and filmmaker-driven company, with the same independent and creative mindset that we have at Ubisoft Motion Pictures," said Jean-Julien Baronnet, chief executive officer, Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "Bringing aboard New Regency's renowned production and distribution expertise while maintaining our own creative and financial flexibility ensures that Assassin's Creed will be a high-quality film that respects the lore and fans of the video game franchise."

However, Ubisoft hasn't confirmed or denied the rumors that the film will be out next year, and some industry watchers believe that Sardin's comments could mean that the film will go into production in 2013 with a release date in 2014.

Either way, it seems like the production of the movie is on track and will be coming out soon.

Last year Ubisoft revealed that Assasisn's Creed III, which is set in 2012, will probably be the last version of the game featuring the character of Miles.

"In Assassin's Creed we set up a timeline with this whole end of the world plot of December 2012," Ubisoft creative lead Alexandre Amacio told Eurogamer. "That's fast approaching, and the story we have to tell, we obviously need to do it before we arrive at that point."

The company has not announced any plans for Assassin's Creed IV.