No Ass Creed 2 this year, confirms Ubi

By Ellie Gibson Published 25 June, 2008

Wants to build anticipation.

Ubisoft has confirmed we won't see a sequel to Assassin's Creed this side of Christmas.

That's according to a Forbes interview with Ubi US boss Laurent Detoc, who said, "When we bring [Assassin's Creed] back, there will be more anticipation for it."

The decision is nothing to do with sales figures, as AC has proved highly popular. More than 6 million copies of the game have been shifted since it was released last November.

In the meantime there's always the new Prince of Persia, due for release this winter. Apparently Ubisoft is keen not to repeat what happened with the last POP trilogy. According to Forbes, 2 million copies of Sands of Time were sold in the game's first month on release, and while the two sequels sold well they failed to achieve the same success.

Hence the decision to pull back production on the next POP game. "As we get bigger, we can give it more breathing room," Detoc said.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Zomoniac #1 4 years ago

    The Ass Creed thing wasn't funny the first time you did it, and it isn't funny now.

  • wattoo #2 4 years ago

    Hopefully they'll add an actual game onto their engine this time.

  • DonnieDarko333 #3 4 years ago

    To be honest after playing Assassins Creed for sometime, it did NOTHING for me at all..which shocked me a bit...so i rather have Prince Of Persia this year!


  • Darren #4 4 years ago

    I'd have been very worried if Assassin's Creed 2 was coming this year because then it would have meant it would be another churned out overpriced Ubisoft "expansion pack" rather than a "proper" sequel.

  • Danoxth #5 4 years ago

    Hopefully the sequel wont leave my brain feeling the side effects of RSI.

  • the_dudefather #6 4 years ago

    going against the tide by saying I quite liked assassins creed

  • Fayt #7 4 years ago

    It may not have delivered all that it promised, but personally, I found the first game to be hugely entertaining. Because of Altiair's smooth animation, he was an utter joy to take charge of, whilst the world was wonderfully immersive. It was far from perfect, with repetition being its primary issue, but I'd still go as far to say that it was one of my games of 2007.

  • Dr.Mott #8 4 years ago

    The problem with Assassin's Creed was the mind numbing repetition. It was absolutely fantastically brilliant for the first few hours, but then the repetition set in. If they can do something to combat that in the sequel, then I'm in.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/08 @ 10:26

  • symmetry #9 4 years ago

    Joining the_dudefather and Fayt by saying I thought Assassins Creed was rather good.

  • anomagnus #10 4 years ago

    first time i got this, played through it ina hurry, because every one said it was shite.

    after a while, i went back to it and gave it a second chance.

    If you play the game properly, and only stray of the roof tops to rescue a few peasants, and spend your time disgusied, blended whatever, its actually really good.

    I also never bothered to do solve/find all the conversations as derekthe first time around. Second time, i tried em, which made those interludes far more interesting.

    This isn't a hack and slash, play it properly, like an assassin, and its actually very good.

    Could it have been improved, oh yes, but still a fantastic achievement.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/08 @ 10:41

  • alimokrane #11 4 years ago

    Assassins Creed was a HUGE technical achievement especially in terms of animation and level design. It was however a disaster when it came to gameplay. I am confident Prince of persia wont suffer from that although I am a bit worried about the ONE-vs-ONE combat system. Still prove me wrong ubi.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/08 @ 10:39

  • DFawkes #12 4 years ago

    Like I say everytime it comes up, I really enjoy Assasins Creed. I still play it every now and then. Maybe that's the secret, to only play a bit at a time to really enjoy it.

    I've never minded repetition, I like Dynasty Warriors, grinding levels in RPGs and Iron Man.

  • alimokrane #13 4 years ago

    @Zomoniac

    I dont think it was done to imply what it says. May be it was shortened to keep the title on just one line under the news.

  • brockenheimer #14 4 years ago

    Assassin's Creed was almost as repetitive as the comments about it being repetitive, every time it comes up.

  • McBradders #15 4 years ago

    I loved me some Creed and expect much more from the sequel. Nice to hear that they'll be giving it a proper dev-cycle.

  • robg #16 4 years ago

    I'd weigh in with it being incredibly *easy* as well; why bother running away when you can hold block and be almost invincible while your health recharges...

    But yes: looks great, feels great, very promising, nice tech demo. Game please.

  • Anthony_UK #17 4 years ago

    I also loved the first one, repetitive yes. But at the same time I found it strangely relaxing and at the same time addicitve.

    Throwing a templar knight to the floor and killing him with a swift blade to the throat, then escaping via the rooftops with 10 guards giving chase for me just never got boring.....

  • actionfitz #18 4 years ago

    "Ass Creed"
    - see what you did there... :)

  • Mr_Brown #19 4 years ago

    "wants to build anticipation"

    Good luck with that. I thought the first one was utterly boring and bland in everyway. I will avoid this at all costs.

  • Stoatboy #20 4 years ago

    If they spend an extra year on it, say, I'd hope at least 3 months of it will be spent using a variety of blunt objects to beat some sense into whichever halfwit(s) thought that the drunks and the mentalists were a good idea, and also whoever decided they'd recorded enough dialogue for the townsfolk.

    Then another 3 months doing the same to whoever thought the tiny selection of lightweight investigative mini-missions would be good enough to be reused more than twice tops.

    Which leaves 5 months to replace all that crap with something half-way decent, and a final month of follow-up beatings for the guilty parties to make sure they've got the message. If they've got enough blunt objects they should reserve a special seeing-to for whoever thought hunting down hundreds of small flags hidden somewhere in the entire holy land was a good idea too. I bet he thought he'd got away with that.

    Don't get me wrong, I loved the game to bits - but it had some really piss-poor design decisions in there.

  • seasidebaz #21 4 years ago

    Less hype, more good for the sequel please.

    Although may pick up the 1st preowned seeing as it's now around £15, i can do repetitive for that price...

  • bad09 #22 4 years ago

    i can see why people had problems with AC but for me it was so much fun can't wait for AC2!

    Edit - Here's an idea Ubisoft, why not have MP with MGO style action sneaking around the cities trying to take out people AC style. It could work....
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/08 @ 12:07

  • johnnybrn #23 4 years ago

    Currently playing through AC having just finished GTA IV but it gets very samey after a while. Maybe the can mix the gameplay up a little in the next title and get rid of all the future crap. It was totally unncessary

  • johnnybrn #24 4 years ago

    Forget the doctor I wanted a go at the nurse

  • Dynamize #25 4 years ago

    Find: jade
    Find: raymond

    Nothin'. I am shocked.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/08 @ 12:19

  • penhalion #26 4 years ago

    Graphics were fantastic but, the game was a complete letdown. Such cheap hits as beggars constantly targetting only the player or repetitive rescue, kill paladin etc. etc. missions. Each town looking near on identical to the last one. Meaningless trecks through the desert and the idiotic eagle dive into a shallow straw cart.

    After all the hype there turned out to be pretty much no game in there. If you removed the repetitive info gathering parts, most people would have finished the game in a few hours.

  • Trafford #27 4 years ago

    I enjoyed the first,found it quite cerebral.
    Having read an article on the plot (on cvg I think) I think the series has a lot to of potential.
    Needs something more though obviously.

  • erp #28 4 years ago

    The Sand of Times sequels didn't sell? There is a god afterall! Take that you marketing, focus-grouping idiots!

  • freedumb #29 4 years ago

    I thought they made Warrior Within and co. becasue SOT didn't sell well, so they dumbed down the series because of that. Now they're saying it did sell? I'm confused. Does that mean they can go back to the same atmosphere and a charming Prince again?

  • guernican #30 4 years ago

    More than 6 million people have bought it, of whom nearly 6 million were disappointed.

    Good luck "building anticipation".

  • penhalion #31 4 years ago

    @guernican

    +1

    The hype machine is slowly killing our industry. I find it near on impossible to get excited about hyped games anymore. The posts I see on the forums seem to suggest I'm not alone in this growing annoyance with preview hyping followed by disappointing actual releases. Even at work I can see dev team members reading the latest marketting hype about our project and cringing (I've been told I do it too).

    I think only Games tm and Edge magazine are starting to speak realistically about previews. The killzone 2 preview being a good case in point, where the previewer stated that when compared to things that have gone before there wasn't actually anything new in there to get worked up about.

  • Ryze #32 4 years ago

    Assassin's Creed is a decent, but repetitive game. I enjoyed it, and it helped M$ sell a Falcon 360 Elite - so it can't be all bad.

    A good benchmark for technical achievement at this stage during this gen.

  • ph101 #33 4 years ago

    the ass creed thing does make me chuckle..

  • keith123 #34 4 years ago

    Don't bother releasing it.
    Great setting for a game but the gameplay was rubbish.

  • dustrat #35 4 years ago

    Who cares about Ass Creed 2? I want Mass Effect 2!

  • SteveB #36 4 years ago

    I'm currently playing through the original one and I have to say this is one of the most mind numbingly boring games I have ever played. I've completed the 1st 3 assassinations and I can't be bothered to go on. It's like the Dragons Lair of the 21st century, very pretty, but no gameplay.

  • mkreku #37 4 years ago

    I just want more Jade Raymond :(

  • guernican #38 4 years ago

    Release a sequel and "I'll have your hand for that!"