Ubisoft, one of the most prolific publishers in the industry, has dried up of late – that’s probably fair to say, after a year where it barely released anything of note. Things should pick up later this year with the release of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and it also has other titles like The Crew Motorfest lingering on the horizon. We’ll almost certainly learn a lot more about its lineup during its planned livestream next month.
And, if it wasn’t obvious already, one area you should expect it to double down on is its historical open world series. The French firm obviously has multiple Assassin’s Creed projects in production alongside the aforementioned Mirage, and moving forward it intends to expand the workforce it’s assigned to the series by as much as 40 per cent. That’s a lot of people dedicated to one franchise.
According to chief financial officer Frédérick Duguet, the company currently has around 2,000 people working on Assassin’s Creed, meaning it expects that number to rise to around 2,800 in the coming years. Interestingly, it intends to achieve its aim by reallocating current staff, so this won’t come as part of an overall expansion of the organisation.
As mentioned previously, there are two more mainline Assassin’s Creed projects currently in production alongside Mirage, including the Japan-themed Red and the Roman Empire-inspired Hexe. It’s also working on a standalone multiplayer game, and two smartphone titles – one of which is being created in collaboration with Netflix.
To be fair to Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla brought in the big bucks for the firm. According to its earnings report, not only has it had more players than predecessors Origins and Odyssey, but it also generated a lot more revenue overall. We’re not entirely convinced the comparisons are fair considering the sheer scale of longevity of Valhalla’s support, but success is success, and there’s no denying the title was a huge hit.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 26
Talk about overkill...
Idea of Assassin's Creed died with Desmond, Meaning of Assassin's Creed died with Syndicate. Now it is just average RPG feeding on famous name.
@PlayStationGamer3919 they tried remaking Price of Persia, it’s not going so well. Ubisoft are a one trick pony nowadays oh and those crappy dance games they make.
I loved Origins and Odyssey! I've played Valhalla (gold) and it was kind of crap. I think I'm done with AC for the next couple of years.
Maybe they should assign more developers to Beyond good and evil 2 😂. I wish they would to more with the other franchise they own like: Brothers in Arms, Driver, Rayman, Prince of Persia.
I really liked Valhalla, it was the game I played the most last year, but it so time comsuming. I'm really looking forward to Mirage and the promise of being a smaller game. Because I don't know if I can put in as many hours as in the Odyssey or Valhalla games.
Actually I think RED and HEXE will be similar to the new Assassins Creed, RPG and open world with a million collectibles. But I hope Mirage is a success, and between these bigger Assassins Creeds, they always release a smaller game in the series for those who want a shorter experience.
Valhalla is turning out to be one of my favourite games of all time.
I love the AC series new and old so if you're looking for more negativity, ain't gonna get it from me.
Bring more. I am ready.
Talk about milking a franchise to death !! Please no more!!
I want more Petz and Imagine series games by Ubisoft. More kids and girlie games for my collection.
But I guess the other publisher like Microids and Outright Games have fulfilled my wish.
I'm one that actually loves the open world Assassin's Creed games, as Odyssey was my favorite game of the last console generation, but even I would like them to make something else besides Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. This is also the opposite of what they said and did with the franchise over the last several years (scaling back as the series was getting oversaturated).
I guess that means a sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising is unlikely even though it seemed to sell ok thanks to solid word of mouth after release, which would be a shame. I'm obviously hoping for the best with the AC games they are making, and obviously I'll play them if they are good, but this is still a bit disappointing even for a series fan.
Creative bankruptcy right here, haven't they already announced like 4 mainline assassins creed games in development? Should we say Beyond good and evil 2 is dead now
Ship over the naval combat crew from Skull & Bones and let that project sink as a standalone mistake.
People hate all they like, but AC is some of the best historical fiction available in gaming. Their researchers and experts alone are a driving force for great world depth. Even if at times some of the gameplay and story isn't quite as deep. Give me more history in games though, give me more AC, I say.
And people who use Desmond as an argument. Would you really have liked to have seen 15 games about one person, and one line? There's only so far you could push that. What they've done is keep the brand alive, and in fact made it a much bigger brand and much more accessible without Desmond 😉
I like assassin's creed games. I actually don't care about the main story arc but just enjoy exploring each historical setting. The maps and historical details are amazing.
AC games become stale. I couldnt finish Valhalla... So many Map Marks.... all the same Outposts... in thae time i was busy with the chores of doing same repetitive stuff i simply forgot what the story was about. Never came back.
@Dragonaged "The maps and historical details are amazing." Google is better at that.
I’ll take all the AC you can throw my way. I would not mind a return to the yearly release days, so long they don’t release unfinished games as they did with Unity.
That year should had been exclusively AC Rouge on all platforms.
In fact, I feel the time spent on all the Valhalla DLC should had instead been used for smaller stand alone releases.
I liked Origins and Black Flag a lot. I liked Syndicate because it was different than a typical AC game. Odysseus and Valhalla were both some of the best looking games , yet I was bored playing them. I love in game movies to set up the story, but the conversations between characters were plain dull in both games. Not to mention discouraging sneaking around, and basically making the bird useless. Next game needs to be different, maybe a more exciting storyline.
@Dman10 Yep the bird being almost useless is one of the reasons I like Valhalla. I don't see how a bird can pinpoint who/what I'm looking for. We praise Elden Ring, Zelda for not holding hands yet we expect all the pinpointing in AC & other games and then turn round to bash them. I love realism and Valhalla does it best compared to all the AC games.
As expected, since they've had some economic troubles for a while with some big games failing and others languishing in development hell for years on end.
So they turn yet again to the safety of Far Cry and AC. Shocking no one.
More hot garbage...
Sounds good to me. It makes sense too. Ubisoft needs some wins and AC is no question their biggest money maker.
I gotta say when I first heard about the Infinity platform for AC I was more than a bit concerned but after seeing what it really is and how much potential Mirage has I'm pretty hopeful for AC!
Valhalla is best when you turn off the compass and everything else in the HUD and just use Synin to get your bearings and lay of the land.
LMFAO! so are these new assigned employees to shell out their garbage AC NFTS they have recently released?
Despite that, there is no more clear an example of the tone deaf shareholder based corporate strategy, than a company doubling down on their last remining somewhat financially lucrative franchises to keep the profits coming. They have essentially consolidated themselves down to such a narrow formula, that has been so over trodden that they have completely misunderstood why they are having problems. Which lay completely with their attempts to continue to copy and paste the same formula, alongside attempting to break further into the monetized live service model with any projects aside from their 3 remaining dull franchises. They continue to ignore what allowed their rise to success, which was a diverse sweet of varied games and types. Much like Sony, this consolidation may prove short to mid term financial success, although that can be negated by bloated budgets that inhibit even that potential, yet it also narrows their market and promotes fatigue.
It's a shame for box that they bungled this generation thus far, because with Sony's narrow lineup primarily focused on safe, iterative sequels and narrow game types, it certainly leaves the door open for competitors to fill the void that such a focus on live service, and narrative driven and fairly scripted/static open world 3rd person titles allows for.
In terms of Ubisoft, didnt they recently fire a bunch of staff, and now they are claiming they are hiring, to pump out more formulaic AC garbage? Just ridiculous, the last thing that will help the already long brewing fatigue with their game design, would be to hire more staff to pump out annual iterations of that same tired formula. Even if they alternated between the supposed mirage formula alongside the large bloated open world formula, it still doesn't address the core design problems baked into the design foundations and engine they have been reusing constantly for over a decade.
I feel that these companies that have grown to large and corporatized for their own good, are in for a rude awakening as the market starts to reject being sold the same thing over and over again. Sony included.
This is very good news! Still looking forward to the Japan and Witch games.
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