Ubisoft Montreal has indicated that Assassin’s Creed will return with a new game next year, as the developer looks to conclude Desmond’s tale in the saga before December 2012.
Speaking to Eurogamer, the firm’s Alexandre Amacio commented, "In Assassin’s Creed we set up a timeline with this whole end of the world plot of December 2012.”
"That’s fast approaching, and the story we have to tell, we obviously need to do it before we arrive at that point."
"We had such a complex and strong narrative that we ourselves did our best to just try to execute these games before that date," he added. "It would be stupid of us to be centring a game on a semi-reality and then have that conclusion happen after that date in real life."
Amacio reiterated that both Ezio and Altair’s story will be tied up in the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and hinted that the series will return with a new protagonist once Desmond’s tale has wrapped.
"Assassin’s Creed is all about cycles – we have the Ezio cycle and the Altair cycle, and both of those are set to conclude in Revelations and we have the Desmond cycle, which is set to end on December 2012," explained Amacio. "But there’s many cycles within the brand – that’s the whole point. History is our playground."
He did, however, note that fans could expect longer development times going forward, indicating the annual release schedule the celebrated stab-‘em-up series has enjoyed since AC: Brotherhood will likely come to an end.
"We’re already structuring the way we do Assassin’s Creed, so it will no longer ever be like that," said Amacio. "Our development approach is changing so our cycles aren’t structured the same way – so it gives us a little bit more development time.”
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is due out on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 on November 15.