Topic: Assassin's Creed to Remain Annualized Series As Long As Players Want It

[Steel Diver]

Assassin's Creed is here to stay, unless you want it to leave.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/33715

Yannis Mallat, the CEO of Ubisoft Montreal, talked about the future of the Assassin's Creed franchise in an interview with Eurogamer.

The frequency of use does not matter if the content is of sufficient quality, according to Mallat. He stated, "When you have quality content, the frequency of coming out with the game is not an issue at all." When it comes to the end of the series, Mallat says it is up to the growing fanbase: "The players will tell us. Right now there are more and more coming into the franchise, so I don't see that day."

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will be released on Wii U on October 29 in North America and November 1 in Europe. 

[Ian Sane]

They try to say it in a nice way but really what they're saying is "we're going to run this series into the ground."  The goal is to milk it as quickly as possible until no one gives a **** anymore like what happened to Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Is Nintendo did this back in the day, Zelda wouldn't have even made it to the N64.  There is some value in making a new release infrequent enough that each one attracts attention and as seen as a big deal, instead of some disposable iteration that will obsolete in a year.  When the players no longer want Assassin's Creed they will never want to see it ever again, but with more space between releases decades can go by before that sets in.  I guess Ubisoft wants a big hit series for right now, but it doesn't matter to them if it is still a valuable IP in 2023.

[azeke]

I just had a dinner with a guy who loves Assasin's Creed a lot. He loves it because it's real and historical and stuff.

He also doesn't like Halo because it's a "fairy tale", ie not real.

[Ceric]

I just had a dinner with a guy who loves Assasin's Creed a lot. He loves it because it's real and historical and stuff.

He also doesn't like Halo because it's a "fairy tale", ie not real.

Wait...  By my understanding Assasin Creed takes place in Historical setting but even within the fiction isn't actually real.  Why Halo is set in a Science Fiction setting but, in the actual world is actually real.

[azeke]

His words, not mine. I didn't argue (much).

[KeyBilly]

I think it is fine to come out with them yearly if the quality is high.  Once sales dip, give it a break and hopefully come back with a new take on the series once people are willing to give it a shot again.  I look forward to getting AC3 when it hits a super low price on Steam.  I enjoyed Brotherhood, which is the only one I've played.  The pirate theme looks like it could be fun, too.  The themed historical settings help each one feel fresh, masking some of the "sameness" that is so obvious in other sequel-heavy series.

[Fjurbanski]

I'd rather these companies go for genuine longevity with their series so I can still enjoy them 20 years from now. (Also I'd prefer that they make fun games that don't seem like chores so I can enjoy them in the present, Ubisoft)


Besides, games like AC definitely shouldn't be annualized. They're big games, they take a lot of time commitment from the player, they take a lot of people and time to develop. Quality will go down. Either that or the budget will rise so fast they can't profit.