Assassin's Creed Needs a Break, Says Producer

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Assassin's Creed Needs a Break, Says Producer



Assassin's Creed producer Jean-Francois Boivin says that he wants the series to take a breather, so that people don't get bored of it.

It's not often that people compare videogames to crop rotation, but that's the metaphor that Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin used to illustrate his belief that the Assassin's Creed series should take a break after the release of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Creed-Brotherhood-Playstation-3/dp/B003L8DXOI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278617986&sr=8-1] later this year.

"You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years - or once every something - you have to let it breathe. You have to let the minerals back in," he said. "You gotta make people miss it a bit. It's like, 'Oh man! I'm so happy it's back!' But if you keep force-feeding to people then people are like, 'Yeah, enough of your Assassin's Creed'."

Boiviin said that it was hard to estimate exactly how long a break the series should take, but that he was conscious of taking too long: "If we skip a year, I think we're good. But yeah, I think we could do something really true to the license if we skip a year and release it in 2012 or 2013," he said. "We need to keep it fresh though; we need to keep it relatively close by, because we have to keep the interest there. I don't think we do a service to this license if we pull a Duke Nukem on people, you know what I'm saying?"

While Boivin might not know exactly how long it will be until the next Assassin's Creed game, he does know where it will be set:"We know exactly where we're going," he said. "It would lack vision and blunt intelligence to wing it episode after episode. We have to have some vision with the story. We very much do; we know all that stuff."

"I can't directly answer [the] question," he said. "But what I can say is you have to remain true to what the license is. It's the story of Desmond Miles, and it's the story of a machine called an Animus that reads genetic memories from your ancestors. It has to stay in there. If it doesn't, then there's this whole justification that needs to happen."

"We need to keep doing that for the duration of this license. We need to keep treating players with respect and treating players with the smarts they have. That's why they will keep coming back, if we continue to keep doing that. That's the way I'm going to answer [the] question," he added.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is due to be released on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 on November 19th.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/no-assassins-creed-in-2011]


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NeutralMunchHotel

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Jun 14, 2009
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Logan Westbrook said:
'Yeah, enough of your Assassin's Creed'
Something about this quote makes me laugh.

Anyway, it's good to see someone with some sense in the videogame industry - although, it is only the creator. I don't think Infinity Ward or Treyarch were too happy about annual CoD games, but you know Bobby Kotick...
 

Deacon Cole

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Doesn't Pop Rocks use the same marketing philosophy? Not sell it in certain markets for a while and then bring it back so people are like "Oh, hey. Pop Rocks!"

McDonald's McRib is the same way.
 

Kiithid

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Gilbert Munch said:
Logan Westbrook said:
'Yeah, enough of your Assassin's Creed'
Something about this quote makes me laugh.

Anyway, it's good to see someone with some sense in the videogame industry - although, it is only the creator. I don't think Infinity Ward or Treyarch were too happy about annual CoD games, but you know Bobby Kotick...
Usually the creators have the best idea of what to do with "their" property, but then usually the higher ups shove that down and:
A) Ignore it and politely asks to work quietly
B) Release a game before it's ready
C) Neither of those and thereby Duke Nukem is revived
 

FloodOne

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Apr 29, 2009
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If Ubisoft stays in step with the game director, that would make them the Anti-Activision...

Antivision
 

Thunderhorse31

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This is a pretty big departure, usually Ubisoft likes to follow the Activision model of "new year, new sequel" for every series it has. Giving it more time in development will not only keep it from getting old, but would likely end up with a better end-product as well. I support this idea.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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Sounds sensible...better than miling it dry, so its nothing more than an empty husk...
 

Trucken

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The Animus is done, there is no need for it anymore. They have the information they were looking for in AC1, they have the skills they needed to learn in AC2, now it's time to put it to use in the real world.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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That is very logical.

And because of that, it will be ignored by the higher ups.

As we all know, in business, if something is going well, it will always go well and will never ever get bad.
 

Carnagath

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Mr. Biovin is a wise man. They really need to let the field rest, and when they decide to plow it again they need to do it hard and produce a huge amazing title like AC2, not a 7 hour single player fart with some multiplayer elements to excuse the DRM, like Ubisoft said they were planning.
 

Colonel Alzheimer's

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Jan 3, 2010
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Well, this successfully quelled my fears that Brotherhood would be the first game in a long line of Assassin's Creed milkage. Hopefully Brotherhood has enough content in it to last me in to 2012.
 

dochmbi

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Just have each game of AC take place in a different era please, that will keep it fresh.
 

Tharwen

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Jean-Francois Boivin said:
I don't think we do a service to this license if we pull a Duke Nukem on people, you know what I'm saying?"
In other words,
Jean-Francois Boivin said:
I don't know how long I'm going to have this job, so we need to release it as soon as possible without making it seem like we're milking it so that I can reap the profits.
 

O maestre

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i really think this is a good idea the series is already dangerously close to jump the shark (no pun intended) so it would be good with a break both for the developers and the gamers. i just hope the franchise doesn't die out