Ubisoft has made it quite clear that there wouldn't be a new Assassin's Creed game in 2016 and have even gone on to suggest that we won't be seeing one in 2017 either. The game developers are giving the series a break in order to fine tune it, but this break might be hitting more than just one annually released game.
The Far Cry series shares the same release pattern as Assassin's Creed, one new game a year. Over the past few years, some gamers have noted recycled maps or gameplay that was too similar to make the experience new in both games.
Ubisoft' VP of Editorial, Tommy François, has revealed that the break in releases for the Far Cry series and Assassin's Creed series will help raise the standard for the games and might be longer than we think.
"I'll tell you what," François said to IGN, "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."
When clarifying what François meant by having the game in an 'Alpha' state a year before release, he detailed that 'Alpha' didn't mean a public test being available for the game, but the game meeting a specific standard.
"Alpha is just saying getting stuff done, but leaving time for polish and innovation. I mean it from that perspective. We still need to have an Alpha, and we need it available as early as we possibly can, because the more time we have for this the more polish we have, the more time we can change, refine, swap systems. You just can't take shortcuts."
Assassin's Creed Unity's 'faceless' bug definitely left its mark back in 2014 and this might be Ubisoft's way of letting a glitch define their game. François made it clear that this break will result in games that have more refined gameplay and features, something that will definitely help the games maintain a new standard.
