Ubisoft has confirmed that the Assassin’s Creed franchise won’t see a new title out in 2016, making this the first year since 2008 that we haven’t seen a new entry on shelves in time for the holiday season.
It was previously reported that the historical action-adventure franchise would be put on the backburner for 2016, with Ubisoft supposedly moving to Egypt for the next instalment in its multi-million selling series.
While the French publishing giant hasn’t yet confirmed which direction the series will go in next, it did reveal that the franchise is being re-examined before it shows up again, presumably in 2017.
Said Ubisoft: “This year, we also are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin’s Creed franchise. As a result, we’ve decided that there will not be a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2016. Since the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity, we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback. We’ve also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin’s Creed a premier open-world franchise. We’re taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we’re delivering on the promise of Assassin’s Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone’s playground.
“We’ll have more to share on all of the above soon. In the meantime, we want to say thank you to our millions of fans around the world for your continued support.”
The last entry in the series, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, was released in October 2015 for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One. The game ended up posting the weakest launch sales of any mainline title in the series to date bar Assassin’s Creed Rogue.
Are you pleased to hear that Assassin’s Creed is going back to the drawing board? What do you think Ubisoft should do to improve the brand? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.