Alex Birlo on July 24, 2021
Recently, Ubisoft shocked people with their announcement that future Assassin’s Creed games will become something of a “live-service”. Here we will recap the history and the changes of this franchise and check out the potential results of this “new change”.
On November 13, 2007 – Ubisoft Montreal released what would be the beginning of one of the most popular franchises in gaming history – it was the first Assassin’s Creed.
An action-stealth game, focused on modern day characters using a machine called the Animus, to simulate and experience the lives of their or someone else’s ancestors.
It always was, is, and will be a story of conflict, between two orders – one that fights for freedom and the other for order.
As the franchise grew and the historical settings changed, two main Ubisoft studios were pulling the “blanket” of development from game to game – Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec.
Including the fact that almost every game in the franchise, after a certain point, had a different person in charge – this would lead to unstable quality and lack of uniform vision from project to project.
October 27, 2017 marked the beginning of a new direction for the franchise – Assassin’s Creed: Origins was released.
After 10 years of action-stealth games, with heavy emphasis on historical accuracy and an almost simulation-level of historical locations, Ubisoft changed the formula – they went full RPG.
Historical locations and events were taken from poorly recorded time periods, to leave more room for “creative interpretation” on the side of the developers. While progression became centered around earning XP and colored gear of different rarities.
History became less of a focus and more like a stage for massive, vibrant open worlds, filled by bandit camps, mysterious dungeons, rare loot, and legendary monsters.
This change had split the community of Assassin’s Creed fans, like the sequel movies had split Star Wars.
Some, could not forget the roots, that made them fall in love with the franchise in the first place.
And some, embraced the refreshing new approach, that revitalized many aspects of gameplay, like exploration for example.
But regardless, this was a major success and attracted new audiences to the franchise. The game became a hit, and the franchise changed from there on.
Now, on July 7, 2021 Ubisoft released a post on their website, titled:
“An update on Assassin’s Creed Infinity and the future of the Assassin’s Creed Franchise”.
In the article they have announced a restructuring of the studios working on Assassin’s Creed, and their plans for the next game.
From now on, the development will be headed by a fixed hierarchy of veterans from both studios, some of whom worked since the very first AC.
The situation with COVID-19 has changed the way they work on games, without the ability to meet physically. So now, the studios optimized the workflow and process to a point that they are probably confident they can work as a single studio.
Now, more in depth about the next Assassin’s Creed in line.
From what we know so far, they are planning to pull off a “Destiny 2” type of stunt, to put it shortly.
Ubisoft decided that the project codenamed “Assassin’s Creed: Infinity” will become something of a platform that will serve as the base game, to which they will be continuously adding new stories and time periods.
From several articles and insider leaks, we know that the project is far off – speculated to come out no sooner than 2024 – and that it will not only be a live-service game, but also an online platform.
The restructuring is a welcome internal rearrangement that will unify the production efforts on future content – that’s all clear.
But the direction they want to take with the franchise is uncertain and can go both ways.
Let us start with what can be steered in a positive direction.
First, it would be good to just imagine ourselves some kind of image for this “platform” we talk about.
If we let our imagination go wild, we can picture a game of AC, where each gets to create their own character – and perhaps even choose between being a Templar or an Assassin – and have our own “modern days” base of operations, with our own Animus.
And now, think about how each year, we will get something like a “Destiny”-type expansion, that will add another DNA sample to our Animus.
How cool would that be, to log into a single “Assassin’s Creed Hub”, run the Animus and choose which time period , or which ancestor you want to play.
Also, this way, instead of pumping out an entire new game every time, they could focus the entirety of their efforts on creating smaller, more condensed experiences.
These can be shorter, but more meaningful stories.
These can be smaller, but more diverse maps and locations.
These can each present different gameplay mechanics, or the opposite – let you transfer the same character between time periods!
While Ubisoft ultimately got almost all of their similar projects right and prospering – these being “For Honor”, “The Division 2”, and “Rainbow 6” – this change of gears for Assassin’s Creed might be for all the wrong reasons.
For example, what really will happen to the quality of the stories?
They might become shorter and crappier.
They might become less of a focus or even get cut out completely, only to become trailers and intro cutscenes like in “Apex” or “Rainbow 6” when a new season starts or a new operator comes out.
Another question, will the open worlds really be any better?
They might become lesser versions of their predecessors, as an excuse for a more rapid release schedule.
Also, the idea of creating your own character, might mean that we will never see more charismatic or well written protagonists with character.
And last but definitely not least, “Live-service” also means – microtransactions.
The topic of microtransactions is a never-ending one, and can also go very wrong. As we already saw, XP boosters in the newer ACs, while gameplay is artificially prolonged to incentivize the purchase of these boosters.
I personally have said my goodbyes to “old-school AC” long ago and made peace with how it is now.
I grew to love this new and interesting RPG, with its combat, progression, and exploration, further perfected in “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla”.
But this new shift is sudden, yet somehow it feels like we should have seen it coming.
At this point, the new formula is just another change we will have to get used to.
But in case they mess it up, I am sure they can always get back to the previous formula.
It would not be the first experiment in the Assassin’s Creed Franchise.
Ubisoft article: https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/GZi5hT4dBeM8YITOsJeCn/an-update-on-assassins-creed-infinity-and-the-future-of-the-assassins-creed-franchise
Bloomberg article by Jason Schreier: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-07/assassin-s-creed-infinity-to-offer-live-online-game-service
