The Daily Populous Thursday July 8th, 2021 night edition
Authored by ign.com and submitted by JODIELOWOLLER

Update: Ubisoft has formally announced that Assassin's Creed Infinity is in development, providing some extra details about the teams working on the project – although not confirming its structure or any gameplay details.

In a joint statement from the managing directors of Ubisoft Quebec and Montreal, Nathalie Bouchard and Christophe Derenne, the new development is introduced as "an important upcoming, early-in-development project codenamed Assassin’s Creed Infinity." While no further details were revealed about what form Infinity will take, the language definitely appears to point to a project bigger than a single game, with Infinity described as

As reported by Bloomberg, the project will be worked on by a "new cross-studio, collaborative structure" made up of the Montreal and Quebec teams. The creative leads at each studio will be Quebec's Jonathan Dumont (Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin's Creed Odyssey) and Montreal's Clint Hocking (Far Cry 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Watch Dogs: Legion).

"Rather than continuing to pass the baton from game to game," reads the statement, "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."

More details of both Infinity and Assassins' Creed Valhalla's second year of content are promised for a later date.

Ubisoft is working on a new project codenamed Assassin's Creed Infinity, which will reportedly be an online platform that would include multiple historical settings and evolve over time – not unlike the approaches taken by Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto Online.

Bloomberg's sources say that Infinity is designed to run for years, and would include a number of settings, rather than the single historical locations the series is known for. The platform would seemingly encompass multiple different Assassin's Creed games, which "might look and feel different, but they will all be connected." Bloomberg's sources also say the project is years from release.

Ubisoft confirmed project's existence to Bloomberg, with a spokeswoman saying it wants to “exceed the expectations of fans who have been asking for a more cohesive approach”. No other reported details were confirmed.

It would mark a huge change for the Assassin's Creed franchise, which has seen a new game almost every year since 2007. Bloomberg's report adds that that change has already caused some issues for Ubisoft developers, with some team members apparently unhappy with the scale of the project after working on huge games for many years. The report adds that Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec are being unified into a single team for Infinity, with Quebec leading the franchise.

Assassin's Creed has been taking steps towards a live service approach for some years now, with Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla all employing tactics more familiar to live service multiplayer games, such as regular free updates and paid cosmetic DLC. Infinity feels like a step towards an approach familiar to Fortnite and GTA Online, both of which have kept huge playerbases invested by adding to and changing their worlds over years.

Coincidentally, recent reports have suggested that Grand Theft Auto 6 could be taking a similar platform-led approach, with rumours pointing to a version of Vice City that is altered over time. That game is reportedly due in 2024 or 2025.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Afrikaansvatter on July 7th, 2021 at 17:47 UTC »

Ubisoft just keeps chasing other studio’s winning formulas. “We want AC to be more like The Witcher.” Now it’s “We want AC to be more like Fortnite.”

And all I am saying is we want AC to be more like AC.

gotlieb1993 on July 7th, 2021 at 15:44 UTC »

Meanwhile we haven’t had new Splinter Cell since 2013 :( Blacklist was awesome too, felt like a great re-entry into the stealth action genre.

Notrocity on July 7th, 2021 at 13:34 UTC »

Reaaaaaaaalll tired of this shit