As France rebuilds Notre-Dame Cathedral, the French studio behind 'Assassin's Creed' is offering up its 'over 5,000 hours' of research on the 800-year-old monument

Associated Press

A massive fire engulfs Notre-Dame Cathedral.

• A fire ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday, which destroyed the iconic spire built in the 19th century.
• An unlikely source has emerged as potentially helpful in the rebuilding efforts: The video game "Assasin's Creed Unity," which contains an elaborate re-creation of Notre-Dame during the French Revolution.
• "Obviously we would like to help if they would like to get in touch," Ubisoft creative director Maxime Durand told Business Insider in an interview on Wednesday. The studio has a "huge database" of research on Notre-Dame accrued across four years.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

As images of flames engulfing the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral began spreading on Monday, Maxime Durand initially thought it was a hoax.

"It really took me a full day to put words to the feelings that I had regarding this," Durand told Business Insider in a phone interview on Wednesday.

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Notre-Dame is personal to Durand. He's the historian in charge of overseeing historical representations in the blockbuster "Assassin's Creed" franchise, and he spent four years overseeing the creation of "Assassin's Creed Unity" - a game set during the French Revolution, which contains a stunningly accurate depiction of Notre-Dame Cathedral as its centerpiece.

Ubisoft

"I think a lot of my colleagues joined me in that same feeling where we didn't know how to react precisely," he said. "Our first thought wasn't on 'Assassin's Creed Unity' until we started seeing the reaction from the fans who started playing again and sharing reactions on social networks. That really surprised us."

In the following days, the French game developer/publisher behind the "Assassin's Creed" games, Ubisoft, pledged half a million Euros to rebuilding efforts.

The company also offered its expertise, which makes a lot of sense: Two Ubisoft staffers spent "over 5,000 hours" researching Notre-Dame Cathedral, inside and out. 

"Because this is 'Assassin's Creed,' players are able to climb over and go everywhere on the monument, so we have to make sure that the details would be well done," Durand said. "Because [Notre-Dame Cathedral] was the most iconic monument that we had for 'Assassin's Creed Unity,' obviously we really wanted to put in all the efforts to make sure that it was really, really beautiful, but also representative of the the monument."

That said, due to the fact that "Assassin's Creed Unity" was developed between 2010 and 2014, Ubisoft wasn't yet using 3D mapping technology to re-create monuments. Fans hoping that Ubisoft has detailed blueprints of the cathedral may be disappointed to learn that this isn't the case.

"I've seen some comments this week of people mentioning that we probably sent an army of drones to scan the whole monument back in these days," Durand said. "Reality is that photogrammetry - the ability to scan monuments - was technology that we added later in the 'Assassin's Creed' franchise, on 'Assassin's Creed Origins,' actually."

Ubisoft

If Egypt needs help rebuilding an ancient pyramid, Ubisoft is ready - that isn't the case for Notre-Dame Cathedral, unfortunately.

"Back then we really relied on pictures - photos, videos - of modern day Notre-Dame," Durand explained. Ubisoft does have "a huge database" of information on the cathedral, and that could no doubt help in the rebuilding effort, but Durand is skeptical that the French government will come asking.

"I'd be very surprised if the architects that will work on the spire will actually engage us in participating."