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Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Is Really the Next Sequel in the Series

Ubisoft confirms what leaked marketing materials had suggested: Assassin's Creed is going full pirate.

Get ready for a million pirate-pun-heavy headlines spread out over the next several months of previews.
Get ready for a million pirate-pun-heavy headlines spread out over the next several months of previews.

After leaked marketing materials from earlier this week offered up a glimpse of a potential future sequel in the Assassin's Creed franchise--one that featured a sea-faring pirate as its protagonist, no less--all we could do was wait until Ubisoft got around to confirming or denying the existence of such a game. We did not have to wait long.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag has been officially confirmed by Ubisoft as of today. Details on the game were not provided, but the new box art (which you can see embedded here in the story) certainly confirms both the title and the piratey aesthetic. The game is currently scheduled to release later this year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U. Probably other platforms too, if we're being honest, but as of now, those four platforms are all that's been announced.

Going full on pirate makes a fair amount of sense, considering it lets the development team keep a lot of the assets and gameplay concepts found in Assassin's Creed III--especially those pertaining to nautical combat. Still, I'm not exactly sold on that subtitle. Apart from the obvious punk rock connotations, the term "black flag" is generally more associated with the anarchist movement, going all the way back to the late 1800s. The traditional black with skull-and-crossbones pirate flag is typically referred to as a Jolly Roger, though that wouldn't necessarily make for as "dark" sounding a subtitle. Of course, the black flag could be in reference to the naval combat term, also known as a "false flag," wherein ships would fly false flags to lure in enemy ships. Or maybe it's a symbol of parley, a nautical tradition wherein ships would fly a black flag to signal to would-be attackers that they wish to discuss or confer terms.

This is why you should never let me use Wikipedia before my coffee's kicked in. We'll have more on Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag soon. Probably.

Alex Navarro on Google+

249 Comments

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avantegardener

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Here we go again..hardcore punk sound track confirmed.

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wmoyer83

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Edited By wmoyer83

So...the Xbox360 and WiiU version get an hour less of gameplay?

Seems shitty to me.

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TigerDX

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Anarchism seems to fit pretty well with the direction all that subject 16 stuff was going in. I only played up to Brotherhood, though.

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BlackerestLotus

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Edited By BlackerestLotus

Assassin Pirates? Well, I guess ninjas need to step up their game! :P

On a more serious note, I just don't feel the urge to get this, sadly. The AC series just seems to be drifting further and further away from what the original was about (y'know, assassinating people and not getting caught in the process). How you're supposed to stealthily kill your target whilst waving the colors of the assassin's flag on the open seas without getting caught? It just doesn't make any sense.

I think I'll pass on this one...

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Levio

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Well in Lost Season 4, the characters had flashforwards instead of flashbacks, so maybe in AC 4 the animus is working in reverse...? Someone help me out here.

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Rustafur

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There's a part of me that hopes the "60 minutes of exclusive content" is just a PR stunt... and then there's a part of me that hopes it's not; because if it is a stun, I'm over it.

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delsaber

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Edited By delsaber

I went full pirate once. Didn't get much else done that day.

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ominousbedroom

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Edited By ominousbedroom

No ninjas? I am disappoint.

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mrcraggle

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People seem to be surprised that there's a new AC game this year when that's been a thing for the past 4 years.

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moncole

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Edited By moncole

Luffy should be in the game.

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Roger778

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Edited By Roger778

After reading all of the comments posted earlier, I have noticed that the majority of people on this forum have agreed that The Naval Combat was the best thing about Assassins Creed 3, and I agree. It was very tense fighting opposing ships, and I hope we can get some more excitement like that again. I also loved the Homestead missions, too.

Like a lot of other gamers, I was disappointed in Assassins Creed 3. Connor didn't feel as exciting or charismatic as Ezio was in my opinion. But now, that Desmond's story arc is done, I hope we can get a new hero who is able to make use easily forget about that modern-day assassin. Having the chance to play as a pirate and potential assassin sounds awesome to me.

However, if this turns out to be as disappointing as the last game, then I will be very upset.

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crithon

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man, that was fast turn around on AC3. I was assuming sequels like Ezio, but nope, straight to the naval battles of the third game on it's own.

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Roger778

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Edited By Roger778

@elwoodan:

That hopeful description of yours sounds pretty awesome.

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TheHT

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9_95

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Edited By 9_95

Awesome.So long Connor,the most boring game hero ever created.Im glad to see that they are taking the best part of AC III,the naval battles and hopefully giving them a more important role

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Vrikk

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I love annual releases of series! Oh wait...

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oasisbeyond

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lol 60 minutes = 10 minutes of crap dlc.

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Sursh

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Edited By Sursh

i havn't dipped into assassins creed franchise since brotherhood. if they capitalize substantially on this pirate theme, i'll be no doubt looking heavily into it... i really like pirates.

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Arrested_Developer

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robbierage

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jeez I wanted a female protaganist this time .. shake it up a bit.. whatever

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RonnytheBear

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Even though Assassin's Creed 2 gave me Nervous Breakdown, I still had fun fighting My War! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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thehideousshrew

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Edited By thehideousshrew

Is this the Henry Rollins RPG I've been waiting for all my life?

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Nardak

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Edited By Nardak

I thought that the sailing parts in the Assasins Creed 3 game were great. Also being able to sail from city to city and explore the unknown sounds pretty great.

Count me in...now i just have to get myself a bottle of rum and a parrot.

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MindChamber

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Edited By MindChamber

Why does he have his hood up? so no one will know hes on the ship? will there be stealth kills of mutinous crew members? will he scale the ship during sea to listen in on crewmembers in their bunks ?

will he jump the shark?

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HaroldoNVU

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While Brotherhood was a great sequel it was the only good one after Assassin's Creed became annual. I love the series, but fuck'em, I'm not buying those anymore. Assassin's Creed: Revelations was underwhelming and III is still broke, I'm tired of paying launch date price for these rushed products.

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Bourbon_Warrior

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Edited By Bourbon_Warrior

@Alex Year of the cage must go on

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bemusedchunk

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ARRRRSASSINS CREED

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divakchopra

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Cretaceous_Bob

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Edited By Cretaceous_Bob

I'm not sure I'm kidding about this: when I saw that they broke their conventions and are naming a core title with a subtitle AND a number, I said, "Goddammit, fuck this series. They don't even know what they're doing anymore."

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SuperLlamaFarmer

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Did they mention exclusive enough on that marketing box?

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HeyImPhoenix

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Edited By HeyImPhoenix

I like pirates! Maybe I will actually buy this one!

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KaneRobot

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No thanks. Going to hold out for Assassin's Creed V: Misfits.

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GreggD

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Edited By GreggD

DALLAS! FALL GUUUUUUYYY!!!

Ahem. *fixes tie* Sorry.

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Grixxel

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Edited By Grixxel

I did like the naval stuff in ACIII, maybe it'll be good~

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shadykx125

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@gold_skulltulla: that's a really good point. When I first saw that art I had no idea it was supposed to be pirate themed.

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JSwan13

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Man, Assassin's Creed just needs to take a few years off......but pirates!!!

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SleepyDoughnut

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Bourbon_Warrior

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Why are they putting a 4 on it? It seems to be set in the same time as AC3 and just improves on the Naval Combat, which was the best part of the game and those specific moments were the best time I had in games last year.

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avidwriter

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So they are turning this into COD with yearly releases? This is going to take place when? 1800s?

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jillsandwich

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Assassin's Creed III didn't exactly leave me wanting to throw sixty dollars at them again.

I'll probably play this at some point, but no way in hell am I pre-ordering it.

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OneManX

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What is going on with this series?

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CaptRocketblaze

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This game will probably break my heart.

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pekoe212

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Edited By pekoe212

Hmmm. I like pirates, but I was really hoping for a new setting/time period that hadn't been done in games before. There are so many other ways they could have capitalized on the nautical gameplay. This is disappointingly unoriginal, especially coming from the AC series. Hopefully when more information is revealed it will seem interesting. This doesn't. I feel like we've had a decade of pirates already.

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swordmagic

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Edited By swordmagic

Well, I felt burned on AC3 but god damn it if I don't want to be a pirate any way I can get it

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iamjohn

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@zaxex said:

Assassin's Creed doesn't need to be an annual series. I've gone from loving the series and buying every game to being pretty apathetic to this announcement.

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NachoMatrimony

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Edited By NachoMatrimony

Seems a little rushed, but I would not mind a thoroughly pirate-themed AC game, especially if they expand on the ship combat and implement the crew and economy building aspects of the past games. At this point they can and should make this the fourth one, because they need to wrap Desmond's story up. The whole thing's already in shambles and I can barely make it through 3.

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shodan2020

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Coming soon: Assassin's Creed 5: Ninjas and shit.

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fram

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Edited By fram

I skipped Revelations due to it's proximity to Brotherhood, which I loved. Was holding out hope for AC3, but let it slide in favour of other games that came out at the time.

Now I see this, and something about it seems off. This should have been AC3: Black Flag.

This is nitpicky shit, but the red text subtitle treatment is getting tired, and seems ill-fitted to the setting. The fact that the "IV" is so small in the title - like it's just another Assassin's Creed episode - seems minor, but to me it indicates that this series has lost all sense of direction. The numbered sequels should be the big time period shifts, with the side stories/spinoffs in between.

All this, coupled with the hackneyed "closure" of the Desmond storyline in AC3 (I youtubed it) doesn't really instil me with confidence in the series going forward. "Assassin's Creed Pirates" SHOULD have me super excited, but I look at that cover art and shrug.

I never thought I'd say this given how much I loved AC2 and Brotherhood, but I think I'm over this series.