Ever since its debut in 2007, Assassin’s Creed franchise has been Ubisoft’s cash cow churning out million dollar games year after year. 2008 was the only year when the game did not have a flagship release, but since 2009, there is a release every year from up till 2015. This year Ubisoft has decided to give franchise a break and launch the new game only in 2017.
The next locale for the franchise to explore is Egypt with a codename Empire. The decision to wait out for the year was taken after Unity’s technical glitches and below par gameplay. Also, the franchise seems to be suffering from fatigue and needs a reboot. The break would not only help developers get more time to work on the game but also break away from the rigidness the franchise acquired over the years. The last game in franchise Syndicate did get rave reviews but was shipped with glitches albeit less than Unity, it suffered in terms of sales and Ubisoft executives blamed it due to poor showing of Unity.
Though this year won’t have a major AC release, it is going to filled with two Chronicles titles which will release in January and February respectively. Not only these games, Micheal Fassbender starrer Assassin’s Creed movie too is set to release by this year in December.
Reported by Kotaku, a post on 4chan forum said that no game from Assassin’s Creed series would see a release this year and that studio was giving franchise a break. Also, much of the gameplay was being worked upon to break-away from the franchise. Also, the co-op gameplay will be done away with in the next title and fewer mechanisms will be used from the previous games, overhauling the franchise totally.
Watch Dogs 2, the sequel to the 2014 stealth game which got positive reviews due to its hacking elements and introducing a different element within stealth games. The sequel will be set in San Francisco and will launch this year, will occupy the usual Assassin’s Creed release spot.
Ubisoft too released a statement regarding the same, “We can’t comment on rumor or speculation. We’re always happy when players are excited about our games, past, present and future. In the meantime, we hope that the latest images from the Assassin’s Creed movie set will keep fans of the franchise happy and eager to find out more!”