‘Assassin’s Creed’ is taking a year off in 2019

“Assassin’s Creed Origins,” from 2017, was the first
great “Assassin’s Creed” game in years. It revitalized the
franchise.
Ubisoft

• In 2019, Ubisoft is pausing its annual “Assassin’s
  Creed” franchise.
• Instead of a new game, the company will give the
  franchise a rest after this year’s launch of “Assassin’s Creed
  Odyssey.”
• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot cited the company’s previous
  decision to move its games away from annual sequels. Having
  more development time “gave the team the possibility to really
  bring what they wanted to” with “Assassin’s Creed Origins” and
  “Odyssey,” Guillemot
  told GameSpot.

One of the biggest annual game franchises in the world is taking
2019 off.

In 2017, Ubisoft launched “Assassin’s Creed Origins.” In 2018,
Ubisoft is launching “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.” But next
year, there won’t be a new “Assassin’s Creed” game — a surprise
given the franchise’s usually annual launch schedule. 

“We had a game [in 2018] and we have one this year, but we are
not going to have a full-fledged ‘Assassin’s’ next year,” Ubisoft
CEO Yves Guillemot
told GameSpot in an interview this week. That includes
spin-off games, according to Guillemot. 

Instead, Ubisoft is planing to expand upon the foundation set in
place by “Odyssey” later this year.

“What you’ll have is lots of content coming [to ‘Odyssey’],”
Guillemot said. “The team really wants to give, on a regular
basis, some new possibilities for play, so when you get in this
year, you’re going to get in for a couple of years.”

It’s a move that makes a lot of sense given Ubisoft’s recent
history. 

“Rainbow Six Siege” was successful at launch, but has
grown to become far more popular.
Ubisoft

Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars developing
major blockbusters, then hoping they sell enough at launch to
turn a profit, Ubisoft has begun focusing on long-term support
for its major blockbusters.

Games like “Rainbow Six Siege,” seen above, have expanded
dramatically since launch in 2015 — it continues to be massively
popular, despite becoming available nearly three years ago. The
same could be said for Ubisoft’s “The Division,” as well as “For
Honor” — it’s a smart strategy that Ubisoft has pioneered to
great effect in the last several years.

And now, it sounds like that same strategy is being deployed with
the massive “Assassin’s Creed” series.

“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” is scheduled to arrive on Xbox One,
PlayStation 4, and PC on October 5 — check out the game in action
right here: