It definitely sounds like there won't be a new Assassin's Creed game this year
Ubisoft CEO confirms a focus on Assassin's Creed Origins for 2018
In some frankly excellent news for the Assassin's Creed franchise, it's looking more and more likely that the free running series will be leaping over a 2018 release date for a new adventure. Given the success of Assassin's Creed Origins , which reaped the rewards of that extra year of development time, it would be foolish of Ubisoft not to follow the same pattern. As reported by Kotaku news editor Jason Schreier, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot suggested as much in an earnings call yesterday. "We are concentrating on [sic] the moment on AC: Origins for which we are going to launch a few other DLCs. You will be amazed by what will came on ACO, so that's the only thing we can say now."
Ubisoft CEO, when asked today if Assassin's Creed will again be annualized: "We are concentrating on the moment on AC: Origins, for which we are going to launch a few other DLCs. You will be amazed by what will come on ACO, so that's the only thing we can say now."February 12, 2018
Those 'few other DLCs' will be the Assassin's Creed Origins Discovery Tour which is out on February 20 and transforms Origins' Egypt into an interactive museum exhibit, full of historical tours and trivia, as well as The Curse of the Pharaohs DLC which looks like it's going to add a significant chunk to the map, and ups the level cap even higher. There's no info as to what's happening after the Curse of the Pharaohs on March 6 but given the monthly updates of loot drops and news, I'd expect some more timed events to follow up the Trials of the Gods.
This all ties in with news from December last year that Ubisoft had decided to invest additional development time in three games. Far Cry 5 had its release shifted back to March 27 instead of February 27, The Crew 2 moved from March 6 to the first half of the Fiscal year 2018-2019 and 'one of three unannounced franchise games initially planned for release in Fiscal 2018-2019 will now be released in Fiscal 2019-20.' You don't need Eagle Vision to spot that the unannounced title will be an Origins follow up. Given the continued Origins support and the release of Assassin's Creed Rogue on current gen consoles next month, followers of the Brotherhood aren't exactly being hard done by.
All in all, this is great news for the franchise. Assassin's Creed Origins is a beautiful labour of love that clearly demanded that extra year of development time so any kind of follow up will need that exact level of polish. Plus, if anything in my Assassin's Creed Origins ending thoughts is true, the teams have a lot of work to do building a new world to explore... Everything is permitted, after all.
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Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.