It looks like both Assassin's Creed and Far Cry are going away for a little longer than expected. Talking in a recent interview with IGN, Ubisoft VP of Editorial, Tommy François, got straight to the point when asked why they're suddenly taking their time with the next instalment of each franchise after annual releases for each. "I'll tell you what, we believe Alpha for these games needs to be one year before release. We're trying to achieve that. That's super f****** blunt, I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this. This is the goal we're going for: Alpha one year before, more quality, more polish. So if this means biting the [bullet] and not having an Assassin's game, or a Far Cry [in 2017], f*** it."
When the site mentioned the popular theory that Ubisoft is taking a break from them in order to ease the over-exposure from annual releases which have led to a drop in sales, François was quick to shrug such claims off. "No, Far Cry's only been going up in sales, so that's not true [...] We sometimes try to do too much - I'm actually super-happy. I know it's perceived like [a marketing decision], and even if it is [perceived that way], it's actually OK." Instead, the VP says it comes down to creative reasons.
Confirming that the company is experimenting with a new formula for both games, François added that Assassin's Creed may be move away from the open world gameplay it's known for. "I do think we need to break that formula. This year we've given Far Cry and Assassin's some time to decant, innovate, and polish. The objective behind this is exactly that." We'll just have to wait and see how things pan out in terms of how the games look and their release dates, but this may end up being no bad thing!