Assassin’s Creed took a year off this year to help the series refocus and come back stronger than before with the next game in the franchise expected to release at some point in 2017. However, according to Ubisoft, we may not get an Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry game at all in 2017 if they aren’t ready.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity came in for a lot of flack when it released in 2014 due to its glitchy and buggy nature, with Ubisoft being criticized by gamers and critics alike for releasing the game in such a sorry state. That’s a mistake the company are keen on not repeating and are, therefore, now willing to give games more time if they need it with the emphasis being on quality rather than meeting deadlines.
Ubisoft are aiming to have the alpha for the next Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games ready one year before they release, as that will allow the studio plenty of time to polish and tweak the games so that they are ready for release.
Speaking to IGN, Ubisoft’s vice president of editorial Tommy Francois said, “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.”
Ubisoft’s definition of an Alpha, however, is very different to what most gamers will be used to, especially those who have purchased games from Steam’s Early Access platform. To Ubisoft, their Alpha needs to be featured complete and a fully working game that just needs to be polished and tweaked for optimal performance.
“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,” Francois added. “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.”