With titles like Rayman Legends and the upcoming Watch Dogs, Ubisoft clearly wants to support both the current and next-gen platforms. With the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Unity, Ubsioft’s action series is also making the leap to next gen. While some may grimace at the idea of new Assassin’s Creed titles being announced just months after the previous game’s release, according to Ubisoft’s VP of creative Lionel Raynaud, fans “want Assassin’s Creed every year”.
In an interview with Edge Magazine, Ubisoft’s Lionel Raynaud confirmed that the developer/publisher will continue to support the current generation of consoles, while generating content for next-gen platforms. (In the interview though, he specifically cites the PS3 and 360.) With developing for both generations, Raynaud states that Ubisoft doesn’t face cross-generation “restrictions” with developing games for the current-gen. The idea is that Ubisoft can develop games in tandem for say, the PS3 and PS4, without crippling the PS4 version; both games will possess the same gameplay quality, but the PS3 version will lack the visual finesse and extra features of the PS4 version:
It’s a choice – even when you do a game that has old-gen and new-gen versions, we decide which one is lead…So if you decide that new gen is lead for all of your games, then you have no restrictions at all – you’re just saying that the other generation will maybe not be able to have everything but still be a better game than we’re used to having on this generation. We never made choices on Assassin’s Creed or Watch Dogs where because we have this other generation we couldn’t put something in the game. It would be a very bad call from a company and brand perspective.
On the topic of Assassin’s Creed, Raynaud states that Black Flag acted as a benchmark item for their development team, saying “they are still learning” and that future next-gen titles will be far superior. As with the Xbox One and PS4 having a heavy focus on online content and social sharing, this allows Ubisoft to “create more surprising experiences that exploit that”. As Assassin’s Creed has essentially become Ubisoft’s hallmark saga, Raynaud says that Ubisoft can continue to release annual AC titles because fans “want Assassin’s Creed every year”:
We are able to offer people a new Assassin’s Creed every year because they want Assassin’s Creed every year…As long as this is true we would be very stupid to not satisfy this need, but it puts a lot of pressure on us to create something that will never disappoint.
However, this does not mean that Ubisoft will simply ship out reused content, as Raynaud says that they need to “make sure [Ubisoft] always deliver[s] a better feel and overall experience every time”. Assassin’s Creed: Unity will release later this year for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and is set during the French Revolution. Gamers have varied opinions regarding a franchise having annual releases, such as Call of Duty. That said, what is your opinion of the yearly Assassin’s Creed schedule? Are you truly eager to play a new AC title every year, or do you think the series could benefit from having a lengthier release schedule? Let us know in the comments!