"Another big" Creed game in 2011 - Ubi

By Robert Purchese Published 26 November, 2010

Is it Assassin's Creed III?

Ubisoft has aired plans to release "another big Assassin's Creed game" in 2011.

Publisher boss Yves Guillemot said earlier this month there will be "something around Assassin's [next year]" and now chief European marketeer Geoffroy Sardin has gone one step further.

"Yes, Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO] mentioned it last week in our financials – and more details will be forthcoming. But what I can say is that next year we will have another big Assassin's Creed game," Sardin told MCV.

Having already spun the story of Assassin's Creed II into the acclaimed Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, we can only assume this "big" new game will be Assassin's Creed III.

News of yet another instalment comes after Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood sold more than 1 million copies in less than a week here in Europe. Brotherhood was denied a UK all-formats chart top spot on its first week of release by Call of Duty: Black Ops. US sales figures aren't known.

To date, the Assassin's Creed series has sold 20 million copies for Ubisoft - it's the publisher's biggest brand.

But we had heard in July that Ubisoft wouldn't "plough" the Assassin's Creed field every year. "Once every three years – or once every something – you have to let it breathe," Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin told Eurogamer. "You have to let the minerals back in. I think it's the same thing with any license, really.

The fantastic Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • StolenGlory #1 2 years ago

    Nice U-turn Ubi.

    So, more of the same then presumably?

  • M4RV #2 2 years ago

    I love - and I'm still loving Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - but this is most definitely milking by this point... We don't need yet another yearly driven franchise here. :\
    Edited by M4RV at 26/11/10 @ 12:41

  • Jay-ITFC #3 2 years ago

    Great news. My favourite franchise of the last year or so.

  • Anthony_UK #4 2 years ago

    So long as they can't keep the quality up there I'm all for it

  • tossetaz #5 2 years ago

    If the quality stay the same with new and exiting additions to the story and gameplay I can't complain, even with the current gameplay I could go for another round in a year. I think Assassin's Creed is probably my favorite franchise ever and I would love to visit many more timeperiodes in the human history!

  • ouchio #6 2 years ago

    will buy the Goty edition in Nov 2012, roughly one month before the Mayan calender runs out and this Earth becomes a nuclear smoking cinder. Utterly devoid of life.
    Edited by ouchio at 26/11/10 @ 12:40

  • M1chl #7 2 years ago

    Jeez, don't rush it guys! AC2 is my 2009 GOTY, but Brotherhood is a 6/10 game for me. Maybe its just Patrice Desilets missing or it came too early after AC2. Don't know, but I really wish that AC3 will be as good as AC2.

  • bratmandu #8 2 years ago

    Keep em coming, AC2 was a massive improvement over AC1, they addressed pretty much every criticism of the first game (variety, repetition, etc.), which is what we need out devs to be doing - listening to crit.

    Brotherhood refined the combat, stealth and movement to an even higher standard - and added a multiplayer mode which was superb considering it was the first mp outing in the franchise. The story bits are also great in acb. It will be interesting to see if they continue to outdo themselves with future efforts.

  • geeza2020 #9 2 years ago

    Wooh another interesting series being turned into a yearly franchise, great news!

    I personally didnt think that AC:Brotherhood was anywhere near enough of an improvement over AC2 to warrant a full price purchase. The series is becoming stale already, so if they do release AC3 next year, it better be something fucking special.

  • patch #10 2 years ago

    Calendar year or financial year? Could he be talking Q1 2012?

  • xentar #11 2 years ago

    i dont know... assassin creed has potential to offer good games even annually if they use the animus idea fully. And to be honest, i would love brotherhood-like game set into the original era... i skipped II because i didn't like the idea of renaissance story... I got it after first day with Brotherhood which i had to play for work. But still, more medieval brutality? give it to me. and change the combat to something a bit diverse than just holding the cover and pressing counter.

  • StolenGlory #12 2 years ago

    "will buy the Goty edition in Nov 2012, roughly one month before the Mayan calender runs out and this Earth becomes a nuclear smoking cinder. Utterly devoid of life."

    Well, it seems utterly devoid of creativity so as the next step, this makes sense.

  • StolenGlory #13 2 years ago

    "I personally didnt think that AC:Brotherhood was anywhere near enough of an improvement over AC2 to warrant a full price purchase. The series is becoming stale already, so if they do release AC3 next year, it better be something fucking special."

    The 12-18 month development cycle and reused assets say it won't.

  • Ultrasoundwave #14 2 years ago

    AC II and AC:B are easily two of the best games this gen in my opinion. Cant wait to see where AC III goes, possibly another of Desmonds ancestors or maybe they'll just go straight into modern times with desmond?

    First day purchase either way.

  • NewbieZilla #15 2 years ago

    Looking forward to picking up Brotherhood, but I hope they shy away from some tacked on multiplayer thing, and focus on making a great single player game. Haven't been hearing the best about the multiplayer for Brotherhood. Fear it'll be the "few months and no one will be on" affair as is the case in all games with a tacked on multiplayer.

  • uknortherner2000 #16 2 years ago

    "More of the same" in 2011 - Ubi.

  • bratmandu #17 2 years ago

    Well if you look at all those big statues beside altair in the sanctuary there's some interesting characters there, egyptian lady with snake, robin hood lookin dude with arrows, etc. The resources of all those periods of history would be enough to make many games.

    The combat does need a look - it's better in ACB but not best - they should ArkhamAsylum-ize the combats a bit.

  • Hobo #18 2 years ago

    If they can keep the momentum going i'm all for it!

    I enjoyed the first one despite it's repitition, because i firmly believed their was the blueprint in there for something absolutely incredible. I just didn't see them achieving that with the next two games!

    Sign me up for AC3, but i think it's time to change period's now.

  • Freek #19 2 years ago

    If they do a true sequel in a new time period, then yes bring it on. Another Renaisance AC game? Might be a little too much.

  • bratmandu #20 2 years ago

    How about some spit balling on AC3 time periods - I'll say Victorian/ Industrial revoltion era London - lots of fog and Jack the Rippers to be assassinated. (I'm thinking the next ac games could be set in one of the cities you can send your assassins to in ACB).
    Edited by bratmandu at 26/11/10 @ 13:32

  • rivuzu #21 2 years ago

    Victorian Era please. Give me some steampunk styled weapons. Have me running around industrial age London and its nearby cities, Assassining it up like a bitch and stabbing Albert in the throat. It'd be a logical storyline step to take, considering how new-tech thirsty the Viccies were.

    I never played Creed II. Creed I seemed repetetive to me, but people do rave on about Creed II. I bought Brotherhood after playing the MP demo at Eurogamer Expo - a fascinating take on the gameplay! Here's hoping that gets refined and worked on more for the future. It's certainly a gem in need of polishing, but a gem none the less.

  • TeaFiend #22 2 years ago

    I finished AC:B last night and loved it. It did not feel like a shameless cash grab, I had the expectation that it would feel like that and have a lacklustre single player campaign. It is very much not.

  • Hunam #23 2 years ago

    Ubisoft really do have to ruin everything good they start don't they?

    I mean, if it's good I'll eat my words, but chances are it'll either be a different dev, or Montreal folks will just phone it in due to creative exhaustion.

  • Mockerre #24 2 years ago

    French Revolution or the October Revolution FTW ;)

  • PixelPirate #25 2 years ago

    Mooooo.

    yes that's the sound of Etzio being milked as we speak...

  • bratmandu #26 2 years ago

    @rivuzu

    Great minds eh?

    Moscow is a possibility, these assassins have it too easy in nice warm countries. Of course they could always go back further than altair or ezio, to dark ages. And there's multiple eras of the 20th century to explore, ww2 paris, texas in the 60s (jfk?), new york, bagdad!?, who knows!

    I think if you took a poll though, a lot of people would be up for victorian london .

  • AdamAsunder #27 2 years ago

    So basically every year for the forseeable future will have an Xfactor puppet vying for number 1. A new COD and a new AC. Probably a yearly Halo if Microsoft have their way.

    Think I might just freeze myself for five years and see if things are a little different then.

    It's fucking boring.

  • GarethBale3 #28 2 years ago

    Yes that is the big picture

    it's all empty the games that try to do something different do not sell nearly as well as the junk food of gaming titles.

    That's why after completing Reach (Which I did enjoy) I had no interest in another shooter i.e Black Ops so I started going backwards, enjoying OoT again on my N64 after that I will be looking to play titles I missed out on last gen.

    Well that's the plan until something decent comes out on the Twin HD's
    Edited by GarethBale3 at 26/11/10 @ 14:15

  • thebuttonz #29 2 years ago

    My concern is how we can go from having 'the brotherhood' in AC,B to not having it again in AC3.

    PS I haven't finished AC,B yet so no spoilers please ;)

  • bratmandu #30 2 years ago

    @AdamAsunder and GarethBale3

    It's a bit unfair to generalise like that - it isn't annual COD update. Credit where credit is due, most will agree that this is not rehashing old stuff - ubi are in fact taking criticism to heart and improving the formula.

    What's your problem with a company revising their own game engine? If they made an entirely new engine over 3 or 4 years, not only would the cost be ridiculous, but the developers and level/mission designers would have to learn a whole new engine every time, and you'd find maybe a graphically impressive game, but one that is devoid of gameplay. Devs often find new ways to use an engine 2-3 games into that engine's lifecycles. Look at the amount of cool games and mods that came from the Half Life 1 engine - people were doing things with the HL1 engine that valve never dreamed of. If HL2 had come out sooner - then we'd have missed all those great spin offs. Point is - sometimes it's worth revising and reusing an existing game engine.

    Ubi aren't treyarch, it's unfair to lump them in together. The AC series has improved on quality in every game, and as long as it continues to do so I'll buy it. Otherwise - I won't. Simple.

  • vizzini #31 2 years ago

    ACB is a good game(7 - 8ish/10), but it is impossible to discount all the graphical issues, which I assume are the result of outsourcing game asset creation (to cheaper workshops around the world) when you see the credits roll.

    These and other graphics issues were acceptable flaws for AC1, but texturing errors, like eyes over eyelids moment for Lucy Stillman (in one of ACB sequences) just look shoddy now. Quality over quantity is a good mantra when a strong IP like this is created, even if they want to sell it every year.

    The game engine has probably been optimized to the extent that it now needs fully replaced for a new AC game; screen tearing, LOD transitions and 30fps frame rate, texture errors are still not perfect on any version, and after 3 separate iterations and patching, will these get fixed for AC3's release?

    3D action platformers like this (mario 64/sunshine/galaxy) need to target 60fps (imo). I would sooner see other graphical compromises(like 800x600 resolution, scaling back shader work, even for toon shading like Wind Waker; with incoherent, but artefact free shadows and smoother LOD transitions).

    The fight sequences, where the enemies have a outline silver glow looks terrible (imo) and was part of the reason I abandoned Prince of Persia: SoT after 45mins on cube. The effect completely breaks the suspended disbelief for me.

    The amount of content in the game is certainly a credit to the series, but I would hope for much bigger director's cuts in the next game, so that completing the game (100%) is 4/5 fun, 1/5 chore. ACB still feels more 1/2 fun, 1/2 chore.

    Secondary eagle vision puzzles/Flags/Feathers/Taylor's and art shops don't really feel like the work is worth the reward(imo), you can either strategy guide to complete quickly, or waste hours. From a design perspective a skilled gamer should be able play any level from cold and be able to glean subtle information, to beat any level 100% on a single play through (imo). The find the lair memories in X time break this design rule for me and become a tedious replay. Searching the world is part of the playability for other things, but does feel like it has got out of hand at times.

  • apoc_reg #32 2 years ago

    Its called assasins creed: Brotherhood

    ... well thats if you want it on PC anyway ;-)

  • BuddyChrist #33 2 years ago

    Sisterhood.

  • rivuzu #34 2 years ago

    @bratmandu

    I know right? :D I disagree with some of your mentions there though. Personally, I don't want to see AC feature more guns. I can see the appeal, but it's been a slasher at its heart. If we start doing JFK... it just wouldn't have the same appeal!

    Victorian Era works though, because although there was a high presence on guns and whatnot, there was still a greater majority of people with clubs and swords and things. French Revolution also works (ASSASSINATE NAPOLEON ON HIS TEMPLAR QUEST TO DOMINATE THE WORLD?! [Shit, does that actually work? o:!]), or you could even go to Yankee Doodle land with their founding fathers and puritans and fudge.

    More Altier would be nice though. Do prefer him to Ezio.

  • andywilkie35 #35 2 years ago

    Fucking hell I hope so, ACII was GOTY last year and Brotherhood is GOTY this year easily. If they want to release games with long, meaty single player campaigns every year for £30 then that's fine by me.

  • bratmandu #36 2 years ago

    @Rivizu

    Oh i doubt there'd ever be much gunplay, even if the series did expand into more modern times. I think a 60s era or even ww2 era game would have a mostly gunless assassin.

    Did france have enough built up areas for free running shennanigans back in the day? I know nothing of france.

  • GarethBale3 #37 2 years ago

    @bratmandu

    I have no problem with re-using a great engine at all as long as the game feels different to play or adds something significant. I think perhaps I'm just a little dissappointed with too many of this generations offerings. I have rarely been blown away by story telling or completely hooked on very many titles apart from say Bioshock and a few others. I 100% GTA4 and I was blown away by the graphics/ realism but only a few missions stood out for me "The Bank job" for on Brucie was much more interesting and funny then Niko ever was.

    AC2 is much better then the first game which I also enjoyed (to a point) and completed it anyway, again I was amazed by the graphics (at the time) but it did get very repetitive and draining halfway through.

    Red Dead again I was blown away by the graphics the story was decent but 2 thirds of the way through it started to bore me. There are just too many titles that lose appeal too quickly and not enough innovation.

    I loved RE 0, 1, 2 and 4 ( especially 4 one of my favourite games) but RE5 was a big let down.

    I really enjoyed MW1 but in hindsight I didn't need to play WAW or MW2 after.

    In fact recently I have far more interest in the new Wii titles and retro games. Hopefully while I'm playing those something big will come a long and not be a let down.

    Perhaps the next elder scrolls will be epic as that is what I'm looking for a real stand out game of this gen.

  • Spong #38 2 years ago

    Sort out the bug-riddled AC:Brotherhood first Ubi!
    I have no interest, much less faith, in a new AC while the current one lays in such a state and Ubi are seemingly doing nothing to rectify it.

  • trip919 #39 2 years ago

    This is too much ffs, give a franchise time to breath and not run it into the fucking ground. Can you do that please Ubi? Can you fuck.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #40 2 years ago

    Anyone ever consider that Brotherhood is the odd one out here?

    With this next one out next fall, all the numbered Assassin's Creed games will have come out with two years time in between. AC1 2007 / AC2 2009 / AC3 2011.

    I gotta say Brotherhood is excellent though. It's a bit more of a sub-mission grind, but it's a good continuation of both Ezio and Desmond's story, and it's got a lot of new tweaks and improvements to the gameplay.

  • RevanNL #41 2 years ago

    Name has been announced: Assassin's Creed: Call of the Assassin's Duty

  • Ryze #42 2 years ago

    It depends on how tastefully it's done, but having two or more teams creating episodes in a franchise is an interesting concept if the teams involved share ideas and are both very talented.

    If they just rinse the same ideas and overstretch themselves, then it's a waste of time.

  • super_monty #43 2 years ago

    shit they are going to milk it to death like COD.

  • Razorus #44 2 years ago

    I vote for another Altair adventure. That guy needs justice done to him. Ezio's story and world have been explored enough already.

  • bratmandu #45 2 years ago

    @salentino86

    Really? Cleopatra? I didn't know that, are all those statues people who actually existed, and how did you find this out? Either way, an ancient egypt AC would be sweet, especially with lot's more of those standalone 'tomb' levels - those tombs from ac2 an B are a highlight.

  • Viz1 #46 2 years ago

    The game's great but come on ubi don't milk it like call of duty... It will only backfire on you when we lose interest..