Ubisoft is shaking up the Assassin’s Creed series by creating a new online service-based game, codenamed Assassin’s Creed: Infinity. The publisher made the announcement via an official blog post. However, it focused primarily on how the game will be made and less on what it will entail.
Thankfully, a report from Bloomberg filled in a lot of the gaps left by Ubisoft. In the report, it’s explained that Assassin’s Creed: Infinity will be an ever-evolving online game within the same vein as Fortnite and GTA Online. That is, until it isn’t.
According to Jason Schreier, who wrote the Bloomberg report, the current idea for Assassin’s Creed: Infinity is for it to feature multiple connected settings that may look and play differently, with the number of connected settings expanding over time. That said, with the title not releasing until 2024 at the earliest, details on what Assassin’s Creed: Infinity will be are still very much in flux. Hence why Ubisoft avoided getting into too much detail in their announcement. It’s very possible that Infinity will be a live-service, but it’s also very possible that the plan for the game will shift with whatever is trendy in gaming, in the future.
The announcement of Assassin’s Creed as a service is a drastic shift from the series that began in 2007. Previously, the series focused on standalone games, released every 1-2 years, that revolved around a particular time period. For them to try and connect them all and create an evolving online world is certainly an ambitious goal.
That’s why Ubisoft is making another shift in the development of Assassin’s Creed: Infinity. Previously, each game in the Assassin’s Creed series has been separately worked on by two different Ubisoft studios, Ubisoft Montreal (Origins, Valhalla) and Ubisoft Quebec (Odyssey). In the Ubisoft blog post, Ubisoft announced that development of Infinity will take a “cross-studio, collaborative” approach.
Rather than continuing to pass the baton from game to game, we profoundly believe this is an opportunity for one of Ubisoft’s most beloved franchises to evolve in a more integrated and collaborative manner that’s less centered on studios and more focused on talent and leadership, no matter where they are within Ubisoft. Most importantly, Assassin’s Creed has always been developed by multicultural teams with various backgrounds and perspectives that have influenced the depiction of its characters, locations, and cultures. While we know there’s always room for improvement, we believe this new structure allows us to ensure that diversity and representation within our teams continues to grow and match that of our players.
This news comes alongside reports that Ubisoft employees are reportedly angry with the company after men accused of sexual misconduct allegations have been allowed to remain in their senior positions. An Ubisoft spokeswoman told Bloomberg that, “Any employee that had allegations and remain at Ubisoft has had their case rigorously reviewed by a third party and were either exonerated or underwent appropriate disciplinary actions.”
As more news is released on the state of Assassin’s Creed: Infinity and the inner workings of Ubisoft, we’ll have it here on Cinelinx.
