First details on 2012's Assassin's Creed
Desmond's story to conclude next year.
The story kick-started by 2007's Assassin's Creed will be tied up before December 2012, with developer Ubisoft Montreal strongly suggesting that Desmond Miles' tale will conclude next year.
"In Assassin's Creed we set up a timeline with this whole end of the world plot of December 2012," Assassin's Creed: Revelation creative lead Alexandre Amacio told Eurogamer. "That's fast approaching, and the story we have to tell, we obviously need to do it before we arrive at that point."
Ubisoft Montreal has created four main games since the Assassin's Creed series debuted in 2007, and 2009's Assassin's Creed 2 has enjoyed two follow-ups in quick succession with last year's Brotherhood and the forthcoming Revelations.
"We had such a complex and strong narrative that we ourselves did our best to just try to execute these games before that date," Amacio said. "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."
Beyond the conclusion of Desmond's tale, Assassin's Creed will likely return with an all-new lead character.
"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," said Amacio. "But there's many cycles within the brand - that's the whole point. History is our playground."
However, a shift in approach to development at Ubisoft Montreal means that the quick-fire rate at which new games have been produced is likely to 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."