This week Ubisoft revealed the future of the assassin’s creed and, depending on what you want from these games. This might be exciting or disappointing. Either way, they’re working on a project called assassin’s creed infinity.
That’s supposed to guide growth to evolve and define the overall future of the franchise. It’s kind of a big deal. So, let’s see what we know so far.
What is Assassin’s Creed Infinity?
According to Jason trier’s report on Bloomberg, Infinity will be a massive online platform that evolves over time. Instead of giving us just one historical setting, AC Infinity will deliver multiple settings and provide room to expand over many years.
Each game might look and feel different, but they will all be connected. According to Jason, AC Infinity could be a hub that supports multiple ac games, both big and small.
Will Assassin’s Creed Infinity be multiplayer?
There’s a lot of talk about this being the AC version of destiny or anthem. But nothing we’ve heard so far confirms that. It’s natural to associate live service with co-op or multiplayer.
Because most live service games do that, assassin’s creed has already become a looter in its own way.
But the truth is right now, we just don’t know, and I know that isn’t very pleasant. But any claims that Infinity has multiplayer or will be multiplayer right now are speculation.
What about the next assassin’s creed game? When can we expect that?
We’ve been getting a new game every year or two. But that changes with Infinity. Both of the main AC studios, Quebec and Montreal, are working on this project.
This means we should expect the next big game before Infinity comes out. There will, however be more expansions, more content like Valhalla’s year two that is coming out next year. But the next mainline game will come with AC Infinity, and this project won’t be done. It won’t even come out until 2024 at the earliest.
Is this the End of Single Player?
No!!! Ubisoft is not done making those solo narrative-driven assassin’s creed games. But when we see those in the future, they will now be part of Infinity when they come out. Instead of a new game releasing every fall like we’re used to, there’s going to be one platform that is constantly evolving and expanding with new content.
This will be the hub for all things assassin’s creed.
How is Infinity going to work?
It’s still very early. But Ubisoft has definitely talked about the platform being helix or absterges related. At the beginning of ac unity, you might remember there’s a menu, “a helix menu,” that shows many different historical settings within the hatred. This is a great starting point for how Infinity might work. But again, this is three years away, and a lot could change. I don’t see how the animus isn’t a core part of Infinity. It’s in every single game. It makes too much sense. Ubisoft does like to surprise us.
Will there be microtransactions in AC Infinity?
We don’t know anything about how much this will cost or how Ubisoft plans to fund this project. If the last few games are anything to go by, Infinity will incorporate some form of microtransactions.
Most live service games do this. So, it’s more than fair to assume that AC Infinity will too.
Who is working on Infinity?
Ubisoft decided to make this a collaborative project between their Montreal and Quebec studios.
According to them, this will unify the direction of the series and focus on talent and leadership rather than studios.
In theory, this should make the games feel more consistent. I mean, that’s been a problem since black flak. But we’ll see Jason Schreier claims that Quebec will take charge of this project over Montreal.
There’s been a long-standing rivalry between the studios. So, this may cause issues, especially if Ubisoft is framing this as a collaborative project.
What about sexual misconduct?
Ubisoft ignored the issue in their press release for Infinity. So, it looks like they’re trying to bury the story. We know that two critical developers on this project were accused of sexual misconduct, and according to internal communications, some employees are not happy about that.
Ubisoft is choosing to keep these people around, and they will help shape the future of this franchise.
What do I expect from AC Infinity?
I’m tired of the new RPG formula. I think these games are too big, too unfocused, and I’m just ready for what’s next.
Because of that, I find myself cautiously interested in ac infinity. I think this can make older fans and newer fans happy.
I am worried, though, about this model. Ubisoft might be caught with the bag when this finally comes out in three years.
That said, I don’t believe live service is going anywhere. People were calling this a trend like a decade ago, and now we have grand theft auto online posting massive gains for taking two. We have gentian impact rigging in billions as a free-to-play game across multiple platforms worldwide.
If the assassin’s creed infinity does see the light of day and fails, I don’t think it will be because it’s live service. It’ll be because it’s not good enough.
Funny as it might sound, an assassin’s creed game where you use the hate to visit multiple historical settings is kind of a dream to me.
If you ask the community about this idea right after assassin’s creed 3 in 2012, I think people would be losing their minds with hype. But as it stands now, assassin’s creed is a fractured franchise.
It’s being tugged in multiple directions. It doesn’t focus on assassins anymore. Sexual misconduct claims stain it, and it’s tainted with microtransactions.
If you’re a massive fan of what the game is right now, that’s a hard pill to swallow. But we can’t ignore the general perception of this series. It might make good sales, but it gets slammed by the internet, the vocal minority, making it hard to be confident in what an assassin’s creed is right now.
For those reasons, I think it needs a radical shift like this. So that’s why I’m going to pay attention to whatever this project ends up being.
What I think Infinity will be,
- It’s going to be multiple pieces of assassin’s creed content of varying sizes.
- We’ll get primarily more significant experiences, though, because that’s what’s been working.
- It may not be one huge game, but it could end up being just as big as the last three games combined by the end of this thing.
- Everything on assassin’s creed infinity will have a shared progression.
- Kind of like what uplay did and what Ubisoft connect does now.
- We’ll access everything from one single client, and this game will see frequent new content. (I’m talking weekly releases at the minimum new weapons, new missions, new challenges, etc.)
But it would also make sense for this to adopt a seasonal structure like AC Valhalla is trying to do. Maybe in one season, we’ll get this episodic arc about an assassin in South America, and then the next season will go to Africa, or you know to the Russian revolution.
As far as what the games will look like, as a game, what’s it going to be? I think Ubisoft is going to double down on the looter RPG formula. Only because that’s what’s been working. We’ve seen them take formula in origins and iterate on the same ideas for two more games for odyssey and Valhalla.
So why not do the same thing here for multiple assassins across multiple historical settings.
Speaking of this might be a stretch, but this could be an opportunity to reintroduce characters from previous games. I’ve seen a lot of people speculate this is how they’re going to remaster old games. But that seems like a missed opportunity they can make new content with older characters.
Why not let us play as Aya? Why not let us play as Ezio?
Ubisoft gives us outfits in every game to attract older fans. So, if this project is as flexible as it seems on paper, this is an excellent opportunity to get more players back to the series.
- I also expect microtransactions to continue and get even more aggressive.
- I expect them to sell overpriced character packs as they have since their origins.
- We could also see a battle pass system, where players can earn premium content if they pay an upfront price.
- Double XP weekends.
- Weekly rotations of content.
- Time-limited challenges.
That might sound cringy, depending on who you are. But all of these ideas have to be in play if this becomes a platform that wants to keep people playing while also bringing in new players.
In terms of multiplayer while, it hasn’t been confirmed. I think unity screwed us on that front assassin’s creed games used to have some genuinely fun competitive multiplayer. It was completely separate from the single-player stuff, which made it acceptable.
But if they reintroduce it, it will be seen as trend-chasing unless it’s unique and special.
If AC Infinity has a mode where I can create my own hideout, invite my friends over, form a brotherhood, and build around all of that classic assassin fantasy stuff?
That sounds fun to me. But I don’t see that happening, not with the direction we’ve been going in since origins and not in a way that distinguishes itself from something like GTA online.
If Infinity does reintroduce multiplayer, I hope that Ubisoft chooses to innovate instead of following the lead of other games.
Hold Ubisoft Accountable
If you work at Ubisoft and listen to this video, you need to keep pushing for management to address these claims.
We know some of you are pushing back. But it would help if you kept going.
No matter what internal or external investigations have been done, you’ve lost control of the narrative.
You need management to get out in front of this. As long as those people remain at the company, this story simply isn’t going to disappear.
We know who they are. We know their names. It’s bizarre to put them on a pedestal in your press release and say these are the guys who are in charge of our big new thing.
It’s just bizarre to me. That management is okay with sexual misconduct dominating the headlines.
It isn’t suitable for the employees. It’s terrible for any victims, and it’s awful for the company in the games they put out.
There’s no scenario in which doing nothing is a good move, none zero. I know people have been talking about this way more often and more vocally than me. But please keep pushing. And we have to save the games like Assassin’s Creed Infinity.