Ubisoft has 'an end' planned for Assassin's Creed franchise

Assassin's Creed 4 game director Ashraf Ismail says that Ubisoft has an idea of how the series will end, but since it's annualized they've "given room to fit more in this arc."

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Ubisoft has committed to making a new Assassin's Creed every year for the foreseeable future. And while no longer a trilogy, Assassin's Creed 4 game director Ashraf Ismail says the company has an ending in mind for the franchise. He's just not sure when it will happen.

"We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is," Ismail told Eurogamer. "But of course Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft's overall boss] announced we are a yearly title, we ship one game a year. So depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we've given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end."

It sounds a bit like padding the middle while waiting for the end-point, but Ismail says there are advantages to this approach. Since multiple teams are juggling the games at the same time, they reference each other and drop hints at future titles. "So for example in [AC4] we have Edward, who was seeded in AC3," he said "But there's a lot more stuff in our game that is hinting at other possibilities."

That could mean that AC4 will introduce some element of the next AC game after Black Flag, which we know is featuring some collaboration from Ubisoft Toronto. And then on and on, until Ubisoft decides to unseal the "ending" envelope and put it into action.

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  • reply
    August 5, 2013 8:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Ubisoft has 'an end' planned for Assassin's Creed franchise.

    Assassin's Creed 4 game director Ashraf Ismail says that Ubisoft has an idea of how the series will end, but since it's annualized they've "given room to fit more in this arc."

    • Ziz legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      August 5, 2013 8:03 AM

      Assassin's Creed X : Assassin in space.

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      August 5, 2013 8:10 AM

      The frame story becomes the main story?

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      August 5, 2013 8:17 AM

      I haven't played much of 3, have the games now completely removed the sci-fi, modern/future stuff? Is it now just a game about a different assassin each time with no larger connection to mystic artifacts and such?

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        August 5, 2013 8:32 AM

        Nope- ACIII definitely contains modern stuff in it. Although, ACIII: Liberation on the Vita is very close to what you're describing. There are *almost* no modern connections in it.

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        August 5, 2013 8:33 AM

        The modern/future stuff will still be there going forward. But you won't play as Desmond anymore.

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          August 5, 2013 9:12 AM

          I believe they said it's also optional to experience and not imbedded into the main story mission.

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      August 5, 2013 8:19 AM

      No they don't. The only thing they want is to spin out as many games as possible. It'll never end, instead it'll get dropped when sales drop off and the story will never be finished, and that's one of the many reasons the original director of the series left.

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      August 5, 2013 8:19 AM

      Ismail says the company has an ending in mind for the franchise. He's just not sure when it will happen.

      Right after the last one sales poorly.

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        August 5, 2013 9:06 AM

        Ding ding din. Ubisoft is going to milk this goddamn cash cow until it bleeds.

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          August 5, 2013 1:35 PM

          well, they should! at some point it will get derped up and scope creep will kill it. however they will try to make it a smooth ride. AC3 was OK I thought, the beginning was AWESOME, but the goddamn crafting was so incredibly terrible I wanted to gnaw my fingers off.

          The next AC based on pirates could be OK... but... it's really drifting from that intensity that the first ones had. I need to be drawn back in to the pieces of eden. the overarching timeline of the templars.

          we learned so much about what it means to be an assassin from Ezio. situational assassinations. blending in. patience. all of that is going missing.... kinda like how splinter cell lost its way as well.

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        August 5, 2013 12:56 PM

        [deleted]

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        August 5, 2013 1:27 PM

        the end is unprofitability, duh.

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      August 5, 2013 1:13 PM

      The ending of 3 felt like it was rewritten to continue the story. The big CGI reveal of some 'renewal' future, post-solar flare seemed like the intended ending. Then it cuts away from the CGI, and has Juno doing some bullshit.

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      August 5, 2013 1:18 PM

      I mean... I would have thought 3 was a great point to say we're done.

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        August 6, 2013 12:47 AM

        They should have ended it at 3 but of course that's not going to happen.

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      August 5, 2013 1:44 PM

      "We plan to end it after we have drained every possible dollar out of it."

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      August 6, 2013 5:58 AM

      Why isn't this set in feudal Japan?

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