One would think Ubisoft would be glad for any exciting Assassin’s Creed news to distract the fans who were disappointed with Unity.
But the French game publisher is displeased that news about the next game in its Assassin’s Creed franchise was leaked to and published by Kotaku.
According to a report by the gaming site, the next Assassin’s Creed game, code-named Victory, will be set in Victorian London. The game is scheduled for release sometime next year.
Ubisoft expressed frustration in a statement to PC Gamer, following the leak.
“It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we’re disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public.”
The leaked information suggests that Victory is another next-gen and PC-only game like Unity. In addition to the basic details, Kotaku said it received a seven-minute proof-of-concept video that, according to its description, is virtually an early trailer.
How could this much information leak about a game when the triple-A video game industry is so notoriously guarded? Well, to produce annual releases of a mainstream franchise like Assassin’s Creed and have a shot in hell of meeting gamers’ expectations per production value, Ubisoft has to spread development to multiple studios across the globe. That’s an awful lot of loose lips to sink ships.
Or maybe someone on the development team decided they were sick of the negative press Unity continues to receive, and wanted to get franchise fans psyched for the next game. If the leaker wants their job, and/or not get blacklisted from future employment, we’ll never find out who they are.
Photo via Greg Knapp/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) and Assassin’s Creed | Remix by Fernando Alfonso III