The Assassin’s Creed franchise is still going strong, with the two latest entries, Odyssey and Valhalla, both breaking series records upon release. Today, we have confirmation about the next step in the popular action-adventure series: Assassin’s Creed Infinity. While this project is still in early development, Ubisoft believes this is the evolution of the franchise, stating that they aim to “exceed the expectations of fans who have been asking for a more cohesive approach” to the series as a whole.
What exactly is Assassin’s Creed Infinity? According to Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Infinity is a massive online platform that will be updated over time with new settings and time periods to keep players engaged. This cross studio effort, which brings in team members from all across Ubisoft, will attempt to give the series the longevity of ever-evolving games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Fortnite.
Last month, during their Ubisoft Forward at E3, Ubisoft announced that Valhalla will be the first Assassin’s Creed game to be supported in its second year of launch with new DLC drops planned well into 2022. With knowledge of the project Infinity in mind, it seems that this is the start of Ubisoft’s new strategy to turn their previously self-contained games into longer experiences that see players returning often for new content and updates.
Jason Schreier also reports that the Assassin’s Creed Infinity is still a while away, with a release expected no earlier than 2024. Over the past few years, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has strayed from its stealth-action roots and has become more of an RPG with standalone stories that aren’t sequels in many ways other than a name. This has also caused some resistance from long-time fans who want the return of the same stealth-centric gameplay of some of the earlier entries in the series. This behemoth of a project seems to be Ubisoft’s way of responding to both those criticisms and creating a more unified experience for the franchise moving forward.