When Ubisoft rested Assassin’s Creed in 2016 — in between the release of 2015’s Syndicate and 2017’s Origins — many were hopeful that the publisher was finally going to break the series’ annual release schedule, and let it breath a little between each installment.
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At the time, Ubisoft acknowledged it needed to go back to the drawing board with the series, and even hinted that after its brief hiatus it wouldn’t return to an annual release format.
Fast-forward to E3 2018, and Ubisoft officially unveiled the next installment — Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. To accompany said unveiling, it also provided a release date: October 5th, less than 12 months after Origins. For some, this was to be expected, but for others who were expecting the series to ditch an annual release, this came as a bit of a surprise.
That said, despite Odyssey signaling otherwise, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has reiterated that Assassin’s Creed isn’t returning to yearly releases.
Speaking to Geoff Keighley, Guillemot addresses the worries of some fans, saying that release timings will come down to each individual installment. Sometimes there will be back-to-back releases, other times there will be an off period in between.
“The Assassin’s Creed brand is coming back this year because Ubisoft Quebec had been working on it for some time (three years), and they were ready to come, so they are coming,” said the CEO. “We are just now considering the brand. It’s a different approach than the one we had before, so you’ll see it some years but it will not be every year.”
From the sounds of it, Ubisoft isn’t going to force a yearly release model on the series, but it isn’t going to go out of its way to avoid the model either. How this will play out, who knows. I’m personally a bit burned out on the series, but I know plenty who look forward to each installment, no matter how much time separates it from the last release.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is in development for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It is scheduled to release on October 5th.
You can read more about the game by clicking here.
