When will Assassin's Creed return once Ezio's story ends in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood? According to series associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin, a year hiatus might be in order.
Assassin's Creed II came out late last year, and it was brilliant. The next installment, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is slated for release in November, and while the addition of multiplayer and the promise of more Ezio action is enticing, a year between games doesn't seem like very much time. As the old saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin agrees.
"We can see a lot of the music games that are releasing year after year – the interest is a lot less than it used to be. The excitement is a lot less than it used to be. You want to keep people excited. 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'.
That having been said, Boivin thinks the franchise could very well take a much-deserved rest after Brotherhood hits store shelves.
"I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011. I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around. This [Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood] is the end of Ezio's story. This is it."
Boivin isn't sure how long a breather the series will take. There are mitigating factors. Business people dictating release dates. All the creative side can do is push back and explain how much time they need and why they need it.
He doesn't see the hiatus reaching epic proportions, at least.
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? It's hard to answer."
No Assassin's Creed in 2011 - Ubisoft [Eurogamer via MTV Multiplayer]