By Andrew Dodson on September 29, 2016 at 6:44am
Last year, it was confirmed that there would be no big "Assassin's Creed" game released in 2016. Well, if you're a big fan of the series and can't wait for the next one, you may have to be patient a bit longer. The same wait may also apply to the "Far Cry" series. Tommy François, Ubisoft VP of Editorial, said this to IGN:
I'll tell you what, we believe Alpha for these games needs to be one year before release. We're trying to achieve that. That's super f****** blunt, I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this. This is the goal we're going for: Alpha one year before, more quality, more polish....So if this means biting the [bullet] and not having an Assassin's game, or a Far Cry [in 2017], f*** it.
Tommy François, Ubisoft VP of Editorial
Alpha, of course, referring to the testing a game goes through during development to make sure it's ready for release. Longer time in Alpha means there's a longer wait before the game even sees a public Beta...but it also means more polish, and a less likely change of a game-ruining bugs becoming evident after release.
There was some talk that this move by Ubisoft was also related to the market being kind of over-saturated with "Far Cry" and "Assassin Creed" titles. Each series has 13 and 17 titles, respectively. Francois disagreed with this, arguing that sales for these games keep going up, continuing on to say that if anything, this strategy was a creative one - the company's attempt at breaking away from the traditional "Ubisoft open-world" style.
I do think we need to break that formula. This year we've given Far Cry and Assassin's some time to decant, innovate, and polish. The objective behind this is exactly that.
Tommy François, Ubisoft VP of Editorial
So, it may be a while before we see another big "Assassin's Creed" or "Far Cry" game. Giving these games a chance to breath and the developers a chance to innovate can only strengthen the series, and give the company the opportunity to explore other game ideas and intellectual properties.
