Ubisoft has decided to skip a year in its Assassin’s Creed franchise. 2016 won’t be seeing the release of a new throat-stabby historical assassination game, which is a first in the franchise’s history since the two-year gap between I and II. Kotaku has reported that Ubisoft will be delaying its next Assassin’s Creed title, codenamed “Empire,” to 2017. Rumour has it that Empire will be set in Egypt, though other sources claim portions of it will take place in Rome. Nothing has been confirmed by Ubisoft as of yet, but we expect some comment from them in the near future.
With 8 main entries and several peripheral games in the series, Ubisoft has put a lot of focus on Assassin’s Creed, and now it seems like they’re recognizing the criticism that the franchise has gone a bit stale. Even with a return to form in the latest entry, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, it looks like Ubisoft has heard feedback and decided to embrace a biennial model and will be focusing on releasing a main entry once every two years.
If you’re still hankering for some assassination action this year, don’t fret! The movie based on the game series is still slated to release in 2016 and boasts a star-studded cast featuring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, and more. It seems to be shaping up well and will be releasing on December 21st this year.
Love the idea of a slowdown in the release of Assassin’s Creed games? Or were you loving the series just as much now as when it first came out? Tell us in the comments below!