Ubisoft’s moved to reassure Assassin’s Creed fans that the publisher fully intends on driving innovation within the brand as the celebrated sneak ‘em up gears up for another game of cat and mouse later this year.
Annual releases of triple-A franchises are commonplace within today’s industry, with the likes of Call of Duty and FIFA pulling in the punters on a yearly basis. However, this has resulted in many gamers expressing concern that the quality of the series will continue to decline as a result of excessive brand milking.
Fortunately, Ubisoft is acutely aware of these concerns, and as a result has pledged that Assassin’s Creed will only continue to grow in quality as the series progresses.
Said Murray Pannell, head of marketing for Ubisoft UK: “This is something any publisher needs to consider and any decisions about how Ubisoft will develop the franchise going forward will take this into account.”
"The unequivocal goal is to ensure that the brand continues to grow in quality and innovation and we are putting the creativity and expertise of several of our worldwide studios behind it in order to guarantee that continued quality."
The celebrated stealth franchise has seen a fresh entry on shelves every year since 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II, with last year’s Brotherhood attracting critical acclaim for its inclusion of multiplayer for the first time in the series. As previously reported, a new game is currently in the works for release in the latter half of 2011.
One of the key components in maintaining the series’ quality, continued Pannell, is the collaborative efforts of Ubisoft Montreal and numerous other studios within the firm. This is in direct contrast to the likes of Call of Duty, which rotates between two developers – specifically, Infinity Ward and Treyarch – on an annual basis.
"Yes, it’s a key element to our ability to continue innovating and the quality of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is directly due to the collaboration between studios," he told CVG.
"We have a strong and deeply talented developer base from which to draw within Ubisoft. The ability for worldwide studios to collaborate, share technology and exchange resources is a massive competitive advantage, so there’s little doubt this strategy does help to create top quality product."