Ubisoft Will Not Release an Assassin's Creed Game in 2016

It's weird to be happy that something isn't going to come out, but I guess I am.

Syndicate was pretty sweet.

Oh and Assassins Creed Syndicate was a step in the right direction.

"Ubisoft Will Not Release an Assassin's Creed Game in 2016".
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India & Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia already forgotten.

It always seems weird to me that AC2 came out a year after AC1; always felt like there was a bigger gap between those.

Ubisoft needs to rework Assassin's Creed into their answer to The Witcher 3 and The Elder Scrolls.

The leaked rumors say they are aiming to be closer to The Witcher.

I really hope this move works out. I feel like this series has got progressively less ambitious over time. AC2 had two enormous cities, a third area to link plus Montereggioni. Brotherhood had the whole of Rome and it's outlying region. The Paris and London of Unity and Syndicate are undeniably impressive in some regards but seem kinda small potatoes compared to what was attempted previously. After God knows how many iterations the combat is still shite and the NPC and enemy AI in Syndicate was frankly laughable. I want to see this series rebuilt from the ground up and return to its roots of social stealth.

Right after they make what I consider the best game in the series that has me interested again is when they decide to take a break, sheesh. Lets all hope that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will take its place this year.

Definitely the right move for the franchise, but I do hope they revisit Syndicate someday. I really enjoyed the characters and would love them to get a chance to be in a better story.

I love the settings and the graphics in all the AC games but I can't stand the thought of playing them.

"Ubisoft will not release an Assassin's Creed game in 2016"

HURRAH!! (finally they get it!)

I wonder if this is an occasional thing or if Ubisoft will adopt a biennial release date.

Watch Dogs is a decent replacement, assuming they can update that game properly, but I doubt investors would like to lose a money maker like Assassin's Creed.

I'm still waiting for my alien-planet-featured-in-AC2 Assassin's Creed Ubisoft...

There was a two year gap between AC1 and AC2, which explains the significant improvement. It was night and day.

Maybe they'll spend the year reworking Ubisoft into a decent company

@ripelivejam: It was two years. Oddly enough, with the way Ubisoft enlists tons of studios to do work on these games, the later and lesser AC titles probably got equal, if not more, development time as AC2.

I hope those Egypt rumors turn out to be true. It would be great to have AC take a year off then come back strong with that setting.

Well whaddaya know? Rumour turned out to be true.

If anything Assassins Creed should style itself on Metal Gear Solid V not The Witcher and definitely not the Elder Scrolls series, both games that have very little in common with how AC plays.

I was super pleased when I heard this. I really like the AC series. But I will be the first to admit that they have a lot of flaws that I have ignored because no other game scratched that sword fights on meticulously recreated historical rooftops itch I didn't know I had. Every game has had glaring flaws that have only gotten worse as the series progressed. Even Black Flag, which was easily the best game since the engine upgrade in AC 3, was kind of a mess. But it was a mess that I played hours of because it had pirate ships and a button that made people sing sea shanties (a feature every game should have).
I want this series to get good again. It's a shame that the French Revolution was already 'squandered' on Unity. I hope they come back strong in 2017.

I don't really care for a rest. I just want them to do whatever it takes to restore quality to the series.

If they can do that on a annual basis, that's fine by me. They just don't seem to be able to do that, understandably so.

A break if they use it well could be good, but it's only a good idea because the games have gotten directionless. Personally I think AC games might be better off as more linear experiences 15-20 hour campaigns, but that's just me.

Trying to play syndicate all I could think was " Wow this is just like all those other games." and I haven't played since 3. Either they need more time to evolve the game or the AC formula is just too stale to keep going.

For once I can't hate Ubisoft, let's hope it will for the better for the franchise.

While they are not releasing a new entry in the series, it seems highly unlikely they would skip out on a holiday season, so maybe a release of AC: Rogue on this generation of consoles.

did hell freeze over

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate was a good game, if it had more time in development it would've been even better. Definitely am glad that they're doing this.

After the series of leaks / confirmations by members of Ubisoft, let's break down what we know about the next Assassin's Creed.

1. It will take place in ancient Egypt.
2. It is a prequel to the entire series.
3. It is changing the structure to be more open and Witcher-esque.
4. It is based around the cancelled Osiris in some capacity.
5. It will be based in a massive, extremely colorful world.
6. It may be the first in a trilogy where the second and third take place in Germany or Rome.
7. The tentative name is Assassin's Creed Empire.
8. No loading areas between cities and the open world.

Bombcast from 2 weeks ago mentioned this and said they are going to release Watch Dogs 2 instead.

I hope they consider spinning-off the game pla & themes of AC IV Black Pearl into its own series of games.

Ninety-Five percent of what they had in AC IV was gosh-darn fun! Come on Ubisoft, you must have heard of Black Beard, Eric The Red, Sinbad the Sailor, Zheng He, Jason and the 'Frickin' Argonauts'...Odysseus! What is wrong with you people?! Ubi could set a game in each fucking era of the history and culture and find a sea-captain hero? Sailing is synonymous with adventure!

I think I'm gonna try to play Syndicate sometime this year. I haven't touched the series since Brotherhood but since I loved that its kind of strange that I haven't ended up giving even one of the following games a try. I just got into the mindset that I would wait for the "real" sequel to 2, but then people got disappointed with 3 and after that it feels like it's been very up and down in terms of what people thought of it.

Assassins Creed: Syndicate seems to have been fairly well recieved, so if they're truly going to change it up then it feels like a good jumping on point for getting up to speed with the series' evolution. I also want to play it 'cause I heard you get a dope cane.

@synulia: @jedikv: d'oh apologies for my stupidity and lack of researching properly. Wiki said November 2007 for ass 1 and I had assumed ass 2 was 2008.

Makes sense when they've got The Division and presumably Watch Dogs 2. Now's a good a time as any.

Seems like a decision they made over a year ago when Unity was being savaged by critics, but Syndicate was already in the oven so it's only coming to fruition now. Also Ubi surely has a replacement this holiday season for AC in Watch Dogs 2. I can see those two franchises trading off that slot every year going forward.

Still, hard to complain when a break is what many people have been asking for. I hope when AC returns in holiday 2017, it's some real next-level shit.

I too can see a new Watch Dogs game being a good replacement for a new Assassin's Creed game because they are the exact same damn game.

WHO CARES. Assassin's Creed should of stooped after AC2. Why do people keep buying these bad games.

Thank god... i can finally catch up.

Heh Yup. Also the movie is slated for release in December 2016

@fishless said:

eww

@phoenixdownpillow: I agree.

Feels like a decision made after the shitshow of Unity, given that this sort of thing likely has to be decided well in advance to really give a team time, and given that they already started to get the series back to form with Syndicate. Syndicate sped up the traversal after the AC climbing had gotten stale, brought some great characters and twists like the WW1 section, and streamlined the side content for the better.

But regardless it will be interesting seeing them go back to the drawing board on the combat, story, and overall structure, in addition to taking a look at the whole series. There's a lot of things that it could learn from the post-AC open world games, and while people complain about the yearly release schedule, there have been a ton of ups and downs and interesting experiments in the core AC series that they should reexamine.

Though I do find it odd that the word is they are looking to chase the Witcher or Elder Scrolls. AC has done some RPG-lite elements, but I don't otherwise see how those games could fit into AC in an intelligible way, beyond better story or more exploratory open world. Batman, Shadow of Mordor, MGSV, even some elements in things like Infamous or Watch Dogs all have done some interesting work in the action open world area since the first AC came out.

I would really like it if Ubisoft (and other publishers that are doing the annual release dance) would get into a three to four AAA franchise rotation (AC, Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and at least one more; rotating on a 4 yr cycle); with nice gems like their South Park game, 2D Rayman and other games, passion projects like Beyond Good & Evil 2, and other things sprinkled in here and there. It will allow ~4 years between each entry in each franchise so you can avoid player burnout and actually refine gameplay.

Maybe this is the year I chew through my AC backlog.

I really like the AC games but I think this is welcome news. The only other thing I want to see from the games is truly fresh settings. They could either keep doing places in Europe (Germany, Spain, etc.) or go to places other than Europe. It's criminal that a "traditional" (i.e. not side-scrolling) game hasn't been set in South America, Africa or East/South Asia.

Definitely hope they reevaluate where they've gone with this series. What drew me to AC was playing a behind-the-scenes role against the backdrop of a larger historical setting.

E.g. Ezio weaving his way through the tumultuous events of the Renaissance and Borgia rule. His character meshed with the setting, and the time-period was well-chosen and represented even on its own. The map didn't need to be filled with 9999 icons of busywork, because the world was well-realized and interesting on its own.

That's what Assassin's Creed is to me. All the sandbox stuff comes second. The bigger narrative is what sets it apart in the first place and I feel like Ubi lost that. Hopefully they'll take bigger risks with the settings and be bolder with characters. Nobody has been remotely memorable past I/II. They feel like such cookie-cutter AAA games.

I was a huge fan of the series early on, mostly for the niche setting of the third crusade. The following games (AC2, Brotherhood) gave us the most charismatic and interesting character of the entire AC series, and it kept the formula fresh and interesting. Unfortunately Ezio was given a very unsatisfactory ending.
They've had some good games since then (Black Flag, Syndicate), but nothing compared to the early outings. I hope this break will give them the chance to truly reevaluate how they portray AC's universe, story and characters.

@sagewaterdragon:This sounds incredibly interesting, I hope it all comes together.

I decided not to play Syndicate until I got myself a better desktop - my laptop doesnt run it well enough. Guess it was a good decision! I'll be able to satisfy my urge to play AC by just playing Syndicate when I get a better rig.