No Assassin's Creed in 2011 - Ubisoft

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 8 July, 2010

"You can't plough a field every year."

It is unlikely that 2011 will see the release of an Assassin's Creed game, the series' associate producer has told Eurogamer.

Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin said the popular stealth-em-up needs a "breather" following the release of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood later this year.

"Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody – and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games – I believe that this license needs a breather. You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years – or once every something – you have to let it breathe. You have to let the minerals back in. I think it's the same thing with any license, really.

"We can see a lot of the music games that are releasing year after year – the interest is a lot less than it used to be. The excitement is a lot less than it used to be. You want to keep people excited. You gotta make people miss it a bit. It's like, 'Oh man! I'm so happy it's back!' But if you keep force-feeding to people then people are like, 'Yeah, enough of your Assassin's Creed'.

"I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011. I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around. This [Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood] is the end of Ezio's story. This is it."

Brotherhood, due out in the UK on 19th November for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, will include multiplayer for the first time in the successful series, and is set in Rome. Ubisoft insists the game is more than "Assassin's Creed 2.5".

"I really don't know," Boivin replied when pushed on the duration of Assassin's breather. "Bottom line, it's not for me to say. We have some business people that will eventually put a date and say, 'This needs to come out'. We have our creative people, who are also pushing on their end, saying, 'We need this much time to do something new and refreshing, just scope wise'. So I don't know how much time we'll need.

"If we skip a year, I think we're good. But yeah, I think we could do something really true to the license if we skip a year and release it in 2012 or 2013. We need to keep it fresh though; we need to keep it relatively close by, because we have to keep the interest there. I don't think we do a service to this license if we pull a Duke Nukem on people, you know what I'm saying? It's hard to answer."

Despite Boivin's call for the series to take a breather, he told Eurogamer that the development team has already decided where the next game will be set and in what time period.

"We know exactly where we're going," he said. "It would lack vision and blunt intelligence to wing it episode after episode. We have to have some vision with the story. We very much do; we know all that stuff.

"I'll nibble on your hook. I can't directly answer your question. Of course you understand that. But what I can say is you have to remain true to what the license is. It's the story of Desmond Miles, and it's the story of a machine called an Animus that reads genetic memories from your ancestors. It has to stay in there. If it doesn't, then there's this whole justification that needs to happen.

"We need to keep doing that for the duration of this license. We need to keep treating players with respect and treating players with the smarts they have. That's why they will keep coming back, if we continue to keep doing that. That's the way I'm going to answer your question."

Head over to the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood gamepage for more.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 5 months ago

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

  • sfp_noodle #1 2 years ago

    To be honest, I would have rather waited an extra year for an AC3 than have a mid cycle spin off. Here's hoping brotherhood ends up being good and isn't borked by the uneccesary need for multiplayer.

  • telboy007 #2 2 years ago

    The present time story got a lot more interesting in the 2nd game, I'd imagine the 3rd game will concentrate more on that side of things now Desmond has become a ninja. :)
    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 11:47

  • Mercatoria #3 2 years ago

    But you can plough your partner whenever you like

  • brseg #4 2 years ago

    @sfp_noodle - agreed. 'Brotherhood' could be great, cant say yet, but it does have '2.5' written all over it. Pretty sure I'll be taking a 'breather' until AC3.

  • menage #5 2 years ago

    @sfp noodle

    +1

    I didn't mind them doing Brotherhood, but I really want my Ninja version of this stuff.

  • X201 #6 2 years ago

    Good idea...


    ...but the suits will say no.

  • Eraysor #7 2 years ago

    As long as the story is still awesome in AC3 I don't mind. More glyphs please!

  • muscleblade #8 2 years ago

    Me too (taking a breather until AC3).

    AC3 set in Japan and Desmond being a Ninja asssinating samurais could be good.

  • AphoticCosmos #9 2 years ago

    I think it's a good thing - give us more of the loveable Ezio to keep us sated, but work on the main plot on the backburner for a bit.

    I mean who doesn't want more Ezio?

  • beastmaster #10 2 years ago

    Is this AC doing a Crackdown 2, so to speak? Same cities, same kind of gameplay?

  • ChaK #11 2 years ago

    acitivision disagrees

  • gorf #12 2 years ago

    - or scrape the barrel every year

  • osh #13 2 years ago

    Hopefully they'll put in more/better sidequests like the glyphs. I spent more time hunting them down rather than the plot quests. As to that unlocked video...

  • Eraser #14 2 years ago

    Wow, so now the fact that a game is not being made is news?

  • Timbercottage #15 2 years ago

    I really hope the future of games doesn't follow this new "more is better" theory.

    I want AC3. Not AC2.5 This is going to be exactly the same game as Creed 2 just with added multiplayer (seriously, why?) and still cost the same as a full retail game. Ubisoft really are pushing my limits.

    What's going to happen next, a COD every year?... oh wait...

  • space_ace #16 2 years ago

    translation: "We really want to do it every year, but management couldn't get it together"
    not being cynical or anything, it's just a straight translation

  • frugtkompot #17 2 years ago

    Stealth-em-up? More like brute-force-em-up.

  • GrumpyMoose #18 2 years ago

    Wise words Ubi. Wise words.

  • uknortherner2000 #19 2 years ago

    They're probably waiting to find even more ways of fucking over their customers with draconian "always on" DRM.

  • Markitron #20 2 years ago

    After AC1 came out ubisoft said they would space out their franchises this gen so as not to wreck them (ala PoP). Then after AC2 came out they said the exact opposite. Now they are back to square 1, which is prolly a good thing. Just hope that shit new PoP does not ruin the chance of a sequel to the 2008 PoP

  • Madafunkola #21 2 years ago

    Wish List:
    AC3 - Feudal Japan (Samurai and Ninjas)
    AC4 - Revolutionary France (Climb the Eiffel Tower, sabotage the guillotine)
    AC5 - Industrial Revolution London (Jack the Ripper & Sherlock Holmes)

  • Centrifugal #22 2 years ago

    Isn't December 21st 2012 the date when the Templars are going to unleash their evil plan on the world?

    That's what the e-mails in Assassin's Creed I suggested anyway. The whole solar flare thing introduced in the sequel may have retconned it though.

  • Psychotext #23 2 years ago

    "But you can plough your partner whenever you like "

    Someone isn't married. >:(

  • oceanmotion #24 2 years ago

    You ploughed the feeled twice this year ffs. ACII and soon to be Brotherhood.

  • erp #25 2 years ago

    What this guy's saying makes a lot of sense!

    Here's hoping the management listen...

    Also, I really must get around to playing AC2. I didn't like AC1 at all, but I've got high hopes for the 2nd.

  • alimokrane #26 2 years ago

    Ubisoft prior to AC2: Brotherhood release: "Here is an expansion pack that adds MP for the price of a full game and please buy it as we won't be releasing a new AC in 2011"

    FlashForward.....

    Ubisoft @ E3 2011: "AC3 coming Holiday 2011. No Beyond Good & Evil 2"

  • taurus82 #27 2 years ago

    Whoo hoo! Are they finally going released realMYST, Myst IV & V (perhaps spruce up Riven and Exile for good measure) for PS3 and 360?

  • Mkwone #28 2 years ago

    I know a few people who'd love a Victorian London setting.

  • brseg #29 2 years ago

    yup, London would be bloody fab. DO IT!

  • Genome #30 2 years ago

    No ninjas. No fucking ninjas. And no goddamn pirates, as I've seen discussed elsewhere. It's always pirates and ninjas. Why not include some zombies as well?

    I want to see an AC set in something like London during the Industrial Revolution. Somewhere around 1800 or so. Maybe somebody like James Watt could fill the shoes of Da Vinci. Have the Luddites be a plot by the Templars. If you set it a bit earlier, around 1780, there could be hints that the Templars kept the papal seat and the Gordon Riots could be part of the plot.

    Just don't do ninjas.

    (And the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, by the way. So no French Revolution there.)

  • smernicki #31 2 years ago

    AC set in the 1917 Russian Revolution, that would be quite awesome

  • NewbieZilla #32 2 years ago

    I just hope they do away with that multiplayer notion for AC3. Do it in a spin off, ok, but keep the main series better than that shit.

  • kangarootoo #33 2 years ago

    I'm with Genome. Much as I like ninjas and samurai and feudal Japan etc, that is about the most un-original setting for any assassin based game EVER. Please leave that to other games and choose original settings for AC sequels - there can hardly be a shortage. I would much rather Tenchu got its house in order so we had more choice, than AC take over its mishandled reins.

  • abot #34 2 years ago

    "You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years – or once every something – you have to let it breathe."

    "You gotta make people miss it a bit. It's like, 'Oh man! I'm so happy it's back!' But if you keep force-feeding to people then people are like, 'Yeah, enough of your Assassin's Creed'."


    If only Activision could have this philosophy with COD - Let it Breathe Kotick.






    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 14:55

  • sneetch #35 2 years ago

    "You can't plough a field every year."

    You can if you use crop rotation. This avoids the need to let it lie fallow and can greatly improve fertility.

    Sorry, I grew up in the country. :)

  • Acrid #36 2 years ago

    I'll believe it when I see it, or rather don't see it.

  • telboy007 #37 2 years ago

    sneetch wins!

  • kangarootoo #38 2 years ago

    @sneetch

    So if Ubi knocked out a city building game in the AC universe every third year, that would keep the franchise fresh?

    This farming stuff is dead clever.

  • Vanmunt #39 2 years ago

    good, the last game was shit.

  • EthanWoods #40 2 years ago

    Fair play to them.

    And I don't know why everyone's bitching about Brotherhood; it's set in a different city, it's got a full campaign, a multiplayer designed by the guy's that did Chaos Theory's, the whole Brotherhood aspect, etc.

    Yes, it's a spin-off, yes it's there to make money. That doesn't mean it won't be good.

  • telboy007 #41 2 years ago

    "good, the last game was shit."

    lol, wtf? Genius comment. Absolute genius. Have a -1.

  • Rack #42 2 years ago

    "Yes, it's a spin-off, yes it's there to make money. That doesn't mean it won't be good. "

    Yes, but if you'll allow an anaology "you can't plough a field every year."

  • mika1h #43 2 years ago

    So this means that the 3DS game, Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy, is released in 2010. And this confirms that the 3DS will be released in 2010.

  • Vanmunt #44 2 years ago

    tel thanks... have one back.

  • shawnlee100 #45 1 year ago

    I want to see an AC set in something like London during the Industrial Revolution. Somewhere around 1800 or so. Maybe somebody like James Watt could fill the shoes of Da Vinci. Have the Luddites be a plot by the Templars. If you set it a bit earlier, around 1780, there could be hints that the Templars kept the papal seat and the Gordon Riots could be part of the plot.
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  • Roberto229 #46 1 year ago

    But don't expect yearly sequels to become the norm for the series: Speaking to Eurogamer, Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin said they already intend to give the series a year off, as there won't be a new Assassin's Creed in 2011. testkings

    "Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody -- and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games -- I believe that this license needs a breather," Boivin explained. "You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years -- or once every something -- you have to let it breathe. You have to let the minerals back in. I think it's the same thing with any license testking VCP-410, really.

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