Just like last year, there’s a new Assassin’s Creed on its way this year. It’s resulted in a bit of an internal struggle; one the one hand, Assassin’s Creed 3’s mundane mediocrity made me swear off the series for good, but on the other hand, thar be pirates. Still, I’m of the opinion that an annualised Assassin’s Creed is just too much. Ubisoft believes that’s not the case.
Eurogamer asked Ubisoft Montreal boss Yannis Malla if he thought that fans would grow weary of the series thanks to its annualisation.
“No. The players will tell us. Right now there are more and more coming into the franchise, so I don’t see that day. It’s our breakthrough,” he said.
“When you have quality content, the frequency of coming out with the game is not an issue at all. On the contrary, people expect more and more of that content. So it’s natural to be able to provide that content. The gamers are happy and it’s our job to make them happy.”
Ubisoft’s gone and done an Activision on us, giving Assassin’s Creed a cyclical development with multiple studios working on the franchise so at least the developers aren’t getting tired of all that Assassin’s Creed.
“When we say we are annualising the franchise, we don’t say the teams only have one year to work on a project. Assassin’s Creed is mature enough in terms of reaching the critical mass of players and community, but also in terms of envisioning enough content for years to come, and in terms of technology to sustain all that. And more importantly, it’s mature enough in growing the talent and the core teams so we can have several core teams working on the next one and other projects on the brand,” he said.
“That’s why every Assassin’s Creed has one dedicated core team working more than one year on their projects. We call that a roadmap. It takes into account the creative content – the settings, the where and what – the technology and the team.
“We have several teams. So they are resting. The team that has delivered Assassin’s Creed 3, they’re not working on Black Flag. They’re resting. They are refreshing their minds and then working on something else that is not announced.”
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is coming to everything capable of playing games – including next-gen consoles - in October this year. Expect a new Assassin’s Creed to be announced just months afterward.
Last Updated: April 2, 2013
AndriyP
April 2, 2013 at 09:53
Assassins Creed 4: Black ops 5
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
April 2, 2013 at 09:57
Assassin’s Modern Warfare Battlefield 6000
Admiral Chief Erwin
April 2, 2013 at 09:59
Nah man, its Pirate ops! Arrr
AndriyP
April 2, 2013 at 10:03
Lulz
Nick de Bruyne
April 2, 2013 at 10:09
Black Flag Ops
AndriyP
April 2, 2013 at 10:10
Haha long time no comment 😛
Admiral Chief Erwin
April 2, 2013 at 09:57
*sigh*
Still need to play Revelations and the rest…
Yolanda Green
April 2, 2013 at 10:04
My face IRL right now —> 😐
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
April 2, 2013 at 10:27
Ran in to a wall or facepalmed the desk?
GarethV
April 2, 2013 at 10:07
I’m a big fan of the AC series but an annual title is a bit too much. When it comes to video games the best philosophy is “Quality over quantity”. I would rather have 3 or 4 awesome games that tie up an incredible story arc then 10 (million? 🙂 ) mediocre games with little or no story.
Nick de Bruyne
April 2, 2013 at 10:09
“When you have quality content, the…”
OK, you can stop right there.
umar bastra
April 2, 2013 at 10:09
This is the reason why creativity is dwindling…all we are left with are sequels…Hate it so much
boolean ass_creed_making_money = true;
String title = “Assassin’s Creed”
int current_iteration = 4;
String[] generic_sub_title = {“Ascension”,”Sisterhood of travelling hidden daggers”,”Arr”,”hoody of truth”};
While(ass_creed_making_money){
current_iteration = current_iteration + 1;
title = title + current_iteration.toString()+generic_sub_title[//random number];
}
AndriyP
April 2, 2013 at 10:20
I think you fugured out their business formulae
umar bastra
April 2, 2013 at 10:48
I figured it out using pigeon vision.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
April 2, 2013 at 10:26
Suddenly it all makes sense now!
DBL_ZA
April 2, 2013 at 12:53
My coding is very rusty, but I think it goes something like this:
string Name = ‘ ‘;
int Bells = 0;
if (Name = ‘umar bastra’) then
{
Bells + 1;
};
umar bastra
April 3, 2013 at 08:50
Haha I don’t drink, so change that to Fanta And we’re good to go 🙂 but thank you kind sir
Nick de Bruyne
April 2, 2013 at 10:11
If you have paid for and played all the AC games, you will have no place commenting here! That’s why the gamers are saying they ‘want more’. They keep dishing it out, everyone keeps buying it… and then everyone wonders why they are trying to pump games out like movie popcorn
Anon A Mouse
April 2, 2013 at 10:28
I played 1 & 2 and was actually bored after 1. I just played AC2 because I’ve already spent money on it but nothing in the games drew me closer to the characters or wanted me to have more of the same. Haven’t even bothered with the rest.
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
April 2, 2013 at 10:37
After AC3, I’m done with AssCreed. Thanks for the birdseed. Ubisoft!
Martin du preez
April 2, 2013 at 10:43
I want MOAR! I really hope they drop the whole modern story line in Black Flag and just keep it in pirate times. Like they did in AC: Liberations
FoxOneZA
April 2, 2013 at 10:49
There’s 5 new IP’s coming from those same studios that created Assassin’s Creed.
Ubi are putting too much into Assassin’s Greed that’s waring out the other franchises. Where’s PoP and R6? I remember early in this gen, Ubi had something like 6 hit games in a row.
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
April 2, 2013 at 10:51
Where’s POP indeed…. :/
Johan du Preez
April 2, 2013 at 11:39
I was bored at the second one already
hassassan
April 2, 2013 at 12:28
I am saying this as a great fan,? ubisoft…PLEASE…STOP…MAKING…ANUAL…RELEASES. I dont care if you have been working on these games for 5 years prior, if you keep on jamming these games down our throats the game will lose its uniqe taste and we will spit it out and soon you? will find your self very unhappy and out of a great job! So help your self out… thanks… wE COULD BE HERE ALL DAY SAYING WHY BUT BASICALLY JUST NO!
McDangerousZa
April 2, 2013 at 13:14
Assassin’s Creed always just seemed like a game that should, by all indication, be awesome, but just never is… I blame misleading screenshots and cool box art!
matthurstrsa
April 2, 2013 at 13:24
“When you have quality content”
Oops
EPIC FAIL
April 2, 2013 at 14:17
In the end it doesn’t matter if each new installment has fresh gameplay and new stories behind it. Because it is overall the same game structure and main focus. How long can you keep this up before you run out of ideas and start switching what makes the game great and unique for simple minded add ons, like the homestead crafting, that have absolutaly nothing to do with the main focus of the story or any sense of appeal. We dont care if it has been in development for 6 years its basically the same game way too soon, I am not talking any cod shit i am talking about giving the entire franchize some time to breath and evolve. It has already begun… pirates? I love Assassins creed like nothing else and i have loved all of the games but the main alore of AC is starting to stray. If you keep on replaying any source of media again and again without giving it a break… well even to the greatest fans it becomes stale, no matter how much you change it up. Keep what makes this series special over a long period rather than putting out a small overing over a short period or else you WILL reach the end of your rope. Also… its a blatant FUCKing cash in, this will be six in a row. But hey even if you are hated you will still have money right…?