Assassin's Creed 2 Faces Uncertain Future
June 25th 2008 01:09
Fans of the Assassin's Creed franchise need to start flooding the forums and emailing their votes through to get a sequal according to Ubisoft.
In a recent piece by Forbes, Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America, explains that the publisher won't release Assassin's Creed 2 until there is "more anticipation for it."
Ubisoft have a precedent for this type of behaviour, showing signs of nervousness in the face of positive sales of their unique IP.
An Example cited by Forbes is PoP: Sands of Time. This title sold "2 million copies in its first month," but failed to perfom as a long term franchise. It wasn't until 3 years later that we saw a follow up.
This looks to be a sign of the times. With production costs exploding, studios are looking to release new titles when they are ready rather than sticking to a schedule. Sales do not seem to be seasonal, but based on the positive build up through showings at expo's and media nights. Blizzard are the obvious example of this, setting the benchmark and creating a gaming behemoth in the process.
Assassin's Creed has received mixed reviews and the public opinion is currrently very much split. With all the innovation and style the title displayed, in the end it was little more than repetitive "go to X which leads to Y" gameplay wrapped in an interesting story.
Ubisoft's appeal to gamers to show their interest in the franchise could very much be a good thing. Fans will have the oppoortunity to share their likes and dislikes before production goes into full swing. The flipside though is that if the masses have already written it off and are consumed by the swarm of new offerings, which are getting more compelling each release, then perhaps Ubisoft will rethink the games future all together.
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Comment by Razmael
Obviously, the market demographic is there...it just has to be tapped, and it takes the cojones to make a dedicated commitment to producing a spectacular game. It CAN'T be all about the fiscal projections, or the game will reflect that to the tune of dismal failure as an IP.
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Comment by 5h1nj1
I hate this "modern" way of gamemaking.
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