Revolutionary New Assassin's Creed In Development
By Curt Hutson 26 September 2016
In an interview, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot says the company is taking its time with the next Assassin’s Creed in the hopes it can revolutionize the IP.
Think Assassin’s Creed has gotten stale? Apparently Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot does too – or at least he and the company are aware it’s time for a change. In a recent interview with GameSpot, Guillemot touched on the absence of a new Assassin’s Creed game this year.
The company had already stated no new Assassin’s Creed games were coming in 2016, but it seems it’s more than a mere break. Ubisoft is instead taking time to improve the series, to make it fresh again. While no specific changes were mentioned, Guillemot seems confident that time was the most important catalyst for those changes.
“What we saw in the development of the next [Assassin’s Creed] was that we had an opportunity to take it to another level. So we said we’ll take all the time it takes to make the experience fantastic. It was feasible because we have other games. There’s a huge potential in this game to revolutionize the IP, so we said, ‘Let’s make sure we change our model so we have more time and that we can bring back a greater experience.'”
How much time that requires, however, is a mystery even to Ubisoft. When asked if the next Assassin’s Creed might be ready in 2017, Guillemot responded by saying, “It will be back when it’s ready. That’s when we feel we have something there.”
It’s impossible to tell whether the next game will be a main, numbered entry into the franchise or simply another Assassin’s Creed title. Not that it really matters. Ubisoft’s logic in this area is baffling and after churning out so many Assassin’s Creed titles every year, numbered entries into the series carry very little weight in terms of importance. The most recent was Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag in 2013, and last year’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate might as well have been part five, but it wasn’t. This next game could be anything.
Whatever it is, it will hopefully be something different that fans haven’t seen yet. Ubisoft appears to be keenly aware that players are exhausted and, frankly, a little bored. Ubisoft’s willingness to take a breather in the hopes to improve on the series is good thing. All they’re asking for is time, and gamers can give them that. Let’s hope they make the most of it.
While fans wait with bated breath, they can distract themselves by checking out the Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection, which allows gamers to relive the adventures of everyone’s favorite assassin: Ezio Auditore da Firenze. There’s also the Assassin’s Creed movie releasing later this year, which could be fun for a lark. For more on the controversy of how the Ubisoft series and other titles have been poorly organized, check out our story on video game franchise pacing.
The Assassin’s Creed series spans the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms, but there is no official release date on the next entry in the series.
Source: GameSpot
