The Assassin's Creed franchise is taking a break in 2019, after the release of Assassin's Creed: Origins last year and the upcoming launch of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey this year.
Assassin's Creed: Origins received mostly positive reviews, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is already shaping up to be a blockbuster hit. Why will Ubisoft take a break next year, when the series is just gaining momentum?
No New 'Assassin's Creed' Game Next Year
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, in an interview with GameSpot at Gamescom 2018 in Germany, revealed that the Assassin's Creed franchise will not have a new entry in 2019.
"On [Assassin's Creed], we had a game [in 2018] and we have one this year, but we are not going to have a full-fledged [Assassin's Creed] next year," Guillemot said. "It's just because the team were working separately, so we have two games now, one year after the other. But next year you're not going to have a fully-fledged one."
Gamers may take Guillemot's statement to mean that there may be a spin-off in the works, but the Ubisoft CEO quickly shot down such speculations. He said that there will instead be "lots of content" that will be released on a regular basis for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which should take up the time of fans of the franchise for the next couple of years.
Skipping A Year Good For 'Assassin's Creed'
Guillemot did not clearly state that the next Assassin's Creed game will be released in 2020, but in any case, the skipped year of 2019 should be good for the series.
Assassin's Creed Unity had a disastrous launch in 2014, and it was followed with weak sales for Assassin's Creed Syndicate in 2015. This resulted in the decision to place the Assassin's Creed franchise on hold in 2016, as Ubisoft's developers were "stepping back and re-examining" the series.
Following the break, the franchise returned with one of the best entries in the series yet in Assassin's Creed: Origins. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, meanwhile, looks to build upon the success of its predecessor, with an upcoming Oct. 5 launch.
Assassin's Creed: Origins brought RPG elements to the action series, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey will add even more, with features such as an interactive dialogue system, while bringing back fan favorites such as naval combat and exploration from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
There are also rumors that one Assassin's Creed: Odyssey expansion will focus on the lost city of Atlantis, so there should be a lot of the game to go on until the next Assassin's Creed game is launched.
