Yesterday's report that the next Assassin's Creed title will be a live service was predominantly met with disappointment online. With recent instalments such as Odyssey and Valhalla met with critical acclaim, it seems that many fans were hoping the series would stick with its single-player roots.
However, fans who were let down by this news may have just been offered a glimmer of hope. This comes in the form of a tweet from Jason Schreier, who originally broke the story. Seemingly feeling that some misunderstood the news, he explains that "there will still likely be solo narrative Assassin's Creed stuff – it'll just be part of Infinity."
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Schreier also brushed off comparisons made to other live services, Destiny and Anthem. Many were particularly fearing Assassin's Creed Infinity could end up like the latter, which failed to meet the publisher's expectations, and had much of its planned support scrapped.
In fact, if all goes well (again, we're years away) they could experiment with smaller AC content and not feel the need to make every game 500 hours long since they'll all be part of one evolving platform rather than tentpole fall releases every year
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 8, 2021
In a second tweet, he elaborated on why this may be a positive move for the franchise. "In fact, if all goes well they could experiment with smaller AC content and not feel the need to make every game 500 hours long since they'll all be part of one evolving platform rather than tentpole fall releases every year." Therefore, we could see an end to Ubisoft's longtime strategy of having a series instalment at least every two years.
However, it is worth noting that the risk of live service games is that the support isn't guaranteed. Anthem is an example of this not panning out, with the Anthem Next update cancelled earlier this year. Yet that doesn't mean it hasn't worked well in the past, with games such as Fallout 76 managing to turn around a poor launch with various free updates.
In any case, Schreier's report was certainly explosive. As well as dropping the news that the next Assassin's Creed game would be a live service, he also revealed that figures within Ubisoft who were accused of sexual harassment are still working at the company in leading positions. A spokesperson claims that every allegation was investigated, and that they "would not remain at Ubisoft if results of investigations warranted termination."
Next: Assassin’s Creed Infinity Confirms The Live Service Future I Was Afraid Of
