Ubisoft is going all in on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, increasing the number of devs working on various upcoming AC titles to a 40% increase. The news came alongside Ubisoft’s earnings report on Tuesday detailing their motivation for having so many work solely on the franchise. “As part of our increased strategic focus on our biggest growth opportunities and progressive reallocation of resources, Ubisoft will notably increase the number of talents working on the Assassin’s Creed franchise by 40 percent over the coming years to fuel its ambitious expansion,” Ubisoft writes in their press release of the earnings call. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reiterated that to date over 2,000 people are working on the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
This news of a massive increase in production towards various Assassin’s Creed titles lends to the success of the recently released Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, as well with the previous iterations of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassins Creed Origins. Origins which first released in 2017 was a complete refresh for the franchise, largely removing the stealth mechanics that made the game so iconic, and trading in for RPG mechanics, stamina bars, skill trees, and more that has made the recent 3 entries revive the series into a new RPG genre. However, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been the standout breadwinner for Ubisoft, earning far more than Origins and Odyssey in sales.
With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla no longer receiving any new updates, their next title Assassin’s Creed Mirage, seeks to go back to the Assassin’s Creed roots that made the game iconic for what it was, largely bringing back stealth and minimizing the size of the open world. Most of the previous Assassin’s Creed titles, while well received, bemoaned fans for their incredibly massive open worlds, spending nearly over 100+ hours on main and side content, that eventually the games felt like collectathons to players. Moreover, the recent trilogy of Assassin’s Creed games lack stealth, nor do they have that “assassin” feel that games like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed Black Flag accomplished so successfully into what made the series what it was known for. Furthermore, the lore of the recent entries has largely lost fans, the story is far too convoluted and epic in scope of what got the story to where it is today.
With the 40% increase in production going towards future Assassin’s Creed games, previously teased titles, four already confirmed in active development, Codename Red, Codename Hex, Codename Jade, and an Assasins’s Creed Infinity, will all gain substantial development and may come within the next year or two. In particular Ubisoft is looking to invest heavily into the mobile gaming market, with Codename Jade reportedly being a faithful Assassin’s Creed adaption for mobile titles. It’s unclear whether there will be anymore more information from Ubisoft of the teased Assassin’s Creed titles at Summer Games Fest.
Currently Ubisoft also has The Division Resurgence, The Division Heartland, Rainbow Six Mobile, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, all still in development as well.