Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, has been speaking to investors on a conference call and has revealed that the next instalment of the popular Assassin’s Creed franchise will be on the shelves by March 2012, possibly earlier. The game will be officially announced in May this year and until then Yves is keeping his cats firmly encased in sacks.
“There will be something around Assassin’s – that’s all we can say,” was his only comment. We tried poking him with a pointy stick to make him talk* but he remained utterly silent.
Can Ubisoft maintain the excellent standards of the previous games if they release a title each year? Let’s hope so. In the meantime, let the rampant speculation as to which time period and location our hero will visit next begin.
Personally I favour the 1797 invasion of Fishguard in Wales by the French during which Jemima Faw, a.k.a. ‘Jemima the Great’ single-handedly captured twelve of the invading soldiers. Jemima (47), wife of a Fishguard cobbler, did have one advantage: the invading soldiers discovered a Portuguese ship had run aground recently and the Welsh had an ample supply of salvaged wine. The French promptly got so rat-arsed they couldn’t fight and Jemima rounded them up with her pitchfork.
Come on Ubisoft, isn’t about time we had a Welsh assassin? Play as Jemima, scouring the streets of Fishguard for the invading forces, a spring loaded pitchfork hidden in her gusset. There’s lovely.
Source: Gamasutra
* No we didn’t
hazelam
another series that will die a slow painful death, creatively if not financially, due to being turned into an annual identikit game.
mind you i like that welsh assassin idea.
jemima the assassin, has a ring to it. :)
Uhyve
As long as they keep the quality as high as they did for Brotherhood, they can release a new Assassin’s Creed every month for all I care.
hazelam
so long as they don’t start bringing out virtually the same game every year, or turn the single player mode and story into an afterthought.
look at almost every other annual release, stagnation seems to be the order of the day for those titles.
Uhyve
I suppose after the CoD series, there’s definitely something to worry about.
But I dunno, Ubisoft seem to be able to do alot in a year, they created a pretty good representation of Rome in that time. Though yeah, I would be pissed if you had to play as Ezio again.
MaD dOctoR 79
It’s not an annual release though, Assassins Creed 1 and 2 had 2 years apart, 2007 and 2009, Brotherhood was released a year 2010 after AC2 (plus it was a follow on rather than a new story, which is probably why it didn’t take as long in development) AC3 will be released in 2012 that’s another 2 year gap.
plus take into account that each game in the series has been better than the last in almost every way, I’m not to worried about AC3 being bad.
blackredyellow
Although there is a strong link between the two, the time between games is rather irrelevant so long as the quality of the game is good.
Aquastyle
Hmm, wonder whether this’ll be AC3 or another spin-off..? Either way, I’m not too big of a fan of Ubi turning this into a yearly franchise. Though I guess I can’t blame them, AC being their most profitable franchise these days and all…
This’ll most likely be a buy for me anyway (if it’s on the PS3, mind), the Assassin’s games are great.
eye8have9you3
thats a good point, “if it’s on ps3” wouldn’t be the first ds game they’ve done, or perhaps kinect only? wasn’t there an article here saying activision wanted it in all franchises?
Aquastyle
Though I’m suspecting it’s going to be for the PS3/XBOX360/PC, they haven’t confirmed anything yet so it might turn out to be, as you said, a 3DS, Kinect only or maybe a NGP title? Wouldn’t put my money on it though ;)
Symposium Cacophony
RIP oh great game, lets hope they don’t ruin it though.
asparagushunter
The series could do with a at least a year break just to save itself from self-stagnation, but like that’ll happen, ey?
double-o-dave
As for the location… I reckon Egypt could be a good bet considering they’ve got pyramids & stuff although that means the next assassin could end up being Lara Croft. Plus I hear Cairo is nice this time of year.
dizwod
Well if its AC3 i thought that was meant to be out this year or next anyway?
Grey_Ghost13
Haven’t gotten into the AC games. Played around with it at mates houses, didn’t like the first one, I know the second was a vast improvement on the first, but if they’re churning them out this quick I can’t see how they can innovate and improve?
dizwod
Well the First one i played for liek an hour or so it was sooo boring. easedropping on peopel and such.
But the Second…WOW, i spent so much time on that game, getting 100% platinum and everythign i just totally loved it :)
My advice avoid the 1st one and go for the 2nd lol
sanmartinez
although I have to agree with you on how boring (gameplay wise) AC1 was I wouldnt go that far as to say avoid part 1, the story that playes out between AC1 and AC2 is of major importance to the overall story. Also I like how Ubi tries to be Historically correct for part 1, as all the people you have to kill in the game were also killed / died / missing in that time period
maneorix
I don’t understand all the negativity around another AC releasing. It’s not like its been running every year with near to no updates. So far Assassins Creed has 3 major releases;
Assassin’s Creed – November 2007
Assassin’s Creed 2 – November 2009
AC: Brotherhood – November 2010
and the next AC which I would assume is ‘3’.
Assassin’s Creed 3 – “March 2012”
Hardly every year yet, I also doubt they just started developing AC3 right after they finshed BH. At the moment every installment has been an upgrade over the previous and in my opinion, they’ve all been brilliant. I’m certainly not going to complain about AC3 coming March ’12 – though that’s likely to see a delay anyway..
double-o-dave
What he said!
double-o-dave
…Or judging by the avatar which I’ve just noticed… What she said!
Aquastyle
Judging by your avatar, you are…a yellow ball!?
double-o-dave
Well noticed! :) & you my friend must either be related to or you are the one and only Mr Sherlock Holmes himself.
Tuffcub
Assassin’s Creed 2 – November 2009
AC: Brotherhood – November 2010
Chance on AC3 making it for Christmas 2011 – Yes
So, er, yes, every year.
maneorix
Er, no, you’re wrong. Your statement would only be true if it does release by Christmas this year. Something I honestly doubt, AC3 is supposed to be next “big” AC – Brotherhood was made to test out multiplayer. So AC3 is likely is to be huge, if they rush it out – they will be shooting themselves in the foot..
dizwod
if it doesnt come out this year it will narrowly miss i guess, but then they will miss out on the xmas surge of game buying.
Serebii.Net
As much as I love Assassin’s Creed, I would love Ubisoft to wait a little longer until they release this game.. I don’t want these games to become cash-ins :(
MaD dOctoR 79
erm no, AC2 and AC:B are both the same story progression, so a year between them isn’t quite that bad, Brotherhood was not meant as a full AC game (but the quality of a what many people believed would just be a short game should go to show that you lot should have a little more faith in this little team at UBI)
Assassins Creed 2 2009
Assassins Creed Brotherhood 2010
Assassins Creed 3 2012
and if memory serves me correctly, most sites were saying how bad Brotherhood “would be” because of how early after AC2 it was being released…;)
plus I’d rather they release games as early as they see fit, rather than us having to wait 10 years for what might end up being a shite game, just because some people think it can’t be done.
jayjay119
Personally I hope they take their time witht the next AC game. We’ve had basically the same gameplay for the last 3 games and that had been great up to now. But Ubi don’t want to get lazy. They need to update the graphics, and the engine I think. I’d like to see some more interactive environments, new things to do other than buying and building up places and it would be nice to see the new character have a few more moves up their sleeves in terms of platforming. On the setting. I’m feeling Russia! France or Britain.
maneorix
I don’t it should be in France or Britain, but Russia would get my vote. What I would looove to see though, is if it could be set in Asian territories like Japan & China.
I’m not sure how that would fit into the whole ‘Templar vs. Assassanino’ thing though. I think if it’s not going to be modern day it could well end up in Britain/France.
AG2297
Samurai vs Ninja in Japan?
MaD dOctoR 79
Assassanino? that’s a baby Assassin isn’t it?
MaD dOctoR 79
what type of gameplay would you like to see?
maybe the next assassin can use sewer pipes to get around while bouncing off the heads of Templar’s to kill them, or maybe make it an FPS set in WW1 where you get perks for getting headshots from the hip, or…(think I’ve made my point)
if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
maneorix
Its going to go modern at some point – why else would they develop the story like that for Desmond? Hopefully it doesn’t change the game too much and currently I have faith in Ubisoft to do the right thing.
jayjay119
That’s what I’m thinking. France and Britain had a Templar presence. I’d love some kind of Russian revolution setting but consiering that happened in the early 1900s, it’s too contemporary for the series and where it is at the moment.