Assassin's Creed Infinity Could Give Ubisoft Its Fortnite
It's no secret that Assassin's Creed is Ubisoft's big franchise, with main-series releases dropping every couple of years and spin-offs arriving just as often (until recently, at least). Ubisoft, it seems, wants to take things to the next level and turn Assassin's Creed into a live service, constantly evolving game. According to a new report today, this new live service Assassin's Creed game will be called Assassin's Creed Infinity.
That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who reports today that developers for both Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec are working on Assassin's Creed Infinity after the two studios were unified earlier this year. The idea is to make an Assassin's Creed game that evolves as time goes on, much like the way Fortnite changes on a seasonal basis.
According to people familiar with Ubisoft's plans, Assassin's Creed Infinity will be home to multiple settings instead of just one. Details about Assassin's Creed Infinity were pretty slim, but Schreier's sources make it sound like it could be used as a platform to deliver new Assassin's Creed campaigns on an ongoing basis, with Ubisoft planning to support the game with new releases after launch.
Typically, live service games have some kind of monetization scheme attached to keep players spending in the months after launch, but Schreier's sources couldn't give us an idea of how Ubisoft plans to monetize this game. It's possible that there isn't even a monetization strategy for Assassin's Creed Infinity yet, as we're told that the game still years out from release. Ubisoft's poor response to abuse allegations and reported animosity between the teams at the Montreal and Quebec studios threaten to delay development even further, as well.
It isn't much of a surprise to learn that Ubisoft is planning a live service Assassin's Creed game. Many major publishers, including Ubisoft, have turned to live service titles as a source of ongoing revenue, and Assassin's Creed could have the name recognition to carry a live service title for Ubisoft for years. Still, it sounds like Assassin's Creed Infinity is still a long time off, so we should probably file this rumor away for now and see if it resurfaces sometime in the future.