The first details of several potential Assassin’s Creed projects have leaked online, which are said to be in the “conceptual and prototype” phases within Ubisoft.
This includes a project by Assassin’s Creed Rogue studio Ubisoft Sofia with story elements set in multiple time periods, including the highly requested Aztec Empire, as well as India and the Mediterranean.
The other projects discussed by Insider Gaming sound like smaller spin-offs, like a free-to-play four-player co-op PVE game from Ubisoft Chengdu, a multiplayer project that uses Ubisoft’s nebulous cloud computing technology from Ubisoft Annecy and Massive Entertainment. , and a second Assassin’s Creed VR project.
News of the projects comes as Ubisoft looks to patch itself up after a period of poor financial results and ongoing internal issues that led to a handful of disgruntled employees going on strike.
In the wake of underperforming games like Just Dance 2023 and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and a wave of project cancellations, it’s been suggested that Ubisoft will look to stability in its other perennial brands: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy.
Today’s report makes it clear that we likely won’t see any of these Assassin’s Creed projects for several years, even if they all continue in development and become full releases.
“We do not comment on rumors and speculation,” a Ubisoft spokesperson told Eurogamer in response to this morning’s report.
But the details of these games are hardly a surprise. In fact, these are the kinds of projects that Assassin’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis Coté discussed with me in Paris last year, when Ubisoft charted the future of its biggest franchise.
Coté even mentioned Ubisoft Sofia’s future work on the franchise to me at the time – something that now seems to tie in well with today’s report about his possible next project.
“I want our other studios who have contributed wonderful ideas to the franchise – like, I keep using Ubisoft Sofia as an example,” Coté told me last year. “(Sofia) built Assassin’s Creed Rogue, something amazing with (Valhalla expansion) Dawn of Ragnarok, and many other gems as their DLC for Origins Curse of the Pharaoh, which was also brilliant.
“So a studio like Sofia can wow our community with a project that isn’t necessarily a 150 hour long product? Infinity will allow for more diversity in the time periods we choose to present and in the gameplay of these games.”
Ubisoft is currently preparing its Assassin’s Creed Infinity project to be a new hub for future Assassin’s Creed games of all shapes and sizes.
These games will include Assassin’s Creed Codename Red, a major new action-adventure RPG set in Japan from the talented Assassin’s Creed Odyssey team at Ubisoft Quebec, and the spooky Assassin’s Creed Hexe from Ubisot Montreal, which appears to focus on the witch trials of the Holy Roman Empire.
Today’s report suggests that Red is set for a 2024 release, while Hexe will follow suit in 2026.
Ubisoft is also preparing a standalone return to Assassin’s Creed’s old multiplayer mode. This is scheduled to debut in 2025.
Ubisoft’s last major Assassin’s Creed release was the 2020 blockbuster Valhalla, which has become one of Ubisoft’s biggest hits in recent years. 2023 will see the release of the smaller, stealth-focused Assassin’s Creed Mirage set in Baghdad.