Speculation: No Assassin's Creed™ in 2016?

Originally released in 2007, the Assassin’s Creed™ series has always been one of French company Ubisoft®’s flagship products. Usually, the editor releases a new episode every year but the latest Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate™ may not have any little brother or sister before 2017. Why would Ubisoft change its strategy, especially as we know that the fans of the franchise crave to play the newest episodes on a yearly basis? Well, maybe because Ubisoft® would like to reform the series to make it look more like The Witcher™!

Was NeoGAF’s announcement a mistake?

“The game will have this The Witcher™ feel. There will be a high focus on player progression and combat system which is going to be very freeform like. Horses will be back, boats too, which is normal since it is the Black Flag team who’s working on the project”.

It is a certain NeoGAF – a developer who worked on most AC games – who started this rumour. According to him, “there won't be an AC in 2016. You may screencap this and refer to it when nothing is shown in E3 2016. You'll have to wait until 2017 for it.” Nothing too damaging here, especially as all of us know that E3 usually takes place in July. However, the reason why the next AC episode may possibly be delayed is a big deal here. NeoGAF asserts that the new game’s story will take place in Ancient Egypt, at a time none of the Assassins or Templars existed. The post adds: “The game will have this The Witcher™ feel. There will be a high focus on player progression and combat system which is going to be very freeform-like. Horses will be back, boats too, which is normal since it is the Black Flag team who’s working on the project”.

Kotaku confirms the information, not Ubisoft

Very recently, Kotaku.com has confirmed that the next AC game would be set in Egypt. The website reported that its own source close to Ubisoft’s plans was delivered the information. In all likelihoods, the next AC game was planned to be released out in late 2016 but the managing team may have decided to slow things down due to Assassin’s Creed: Unity™ arising into a sham in late 2014.

It is without surprise that a spoke person from Ubisoft declined this information, explaining that there was no reason to comment on a rumour. Unfortunately, Ubisoft won’t be left alone yet. In fact, rumours of a highly anticipated Watch Dogs 2™ being out during the Christmas period of this year are now emerging…