Assassin's Creed's retreat to 2025 casts a concerning shadow over Ubisoft's future; what is their new waypoint?
With their credo wavering in integrity, how should Ubisoft prepare themselves for an emerging existential challenge?
In a cultural regard, the industry may be in greater decline than its creative concerns. Upon addressing the delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows - ostensibly in the grandiloquent, role-playing lineage of Odyssey and Valhalla - Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reaffirmed his corporate behemoth is an “entertainment first” enterprise; their ultimate goal is to “not push any specific agenda” and create “games for the broadest possible audience”. Were I to be particularly harsh on this noble institution, I would say they are indeed successful in producing functional Triple A tripe - moderately ambitious endeavours akin to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown notwithstanding. However, Guillemot explicity refuted bad faith arguments on the framing of Yasuke - a bodyguard of the Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano - as an active samurai. In return, I would ask individuals of this persuasion to read the Assassin’s Creed Wiki - should they find the time between fighting legions of strawmen who dare threaten them. If you come to Assassin’s Creed for devout historical accuracy, I fear you will only find crackpot depictions of clandestine organisations and myth made manifest. Functionally, Yasuke serves as a combat-focused alternative to Naoe, who is designed to be stealthier - a happy union of the franchise’s dual interests. This is consistent with records noting Yasuke’s physical prowess, while providing players with an avatar reflecting on their unfamilarity with their milieu. Conversely, Naoe can use her local knowledge to, well, assassinate her enemies. Regardless, this stratification has failed to placate critics, thus intensifying Ubisoft’s greater woes.
This is not to defend Ubisoft; I have found their titles from the past decade to be largely unimpressive. I never had great faith in Shadows’ design, as the varnish of Feudal Japan meant little when met with their rigid framework established from Origins onward. Furthermore, against Ghost of Tsushima’s manner of metrical minimalism, contemporary Assassin’s Creed’s cramped UI became comparably abrasive. Though these two titles are functionally similar, delegating quests through imposed icons and chance encounters, their formal discipline diverged in favour of Tsushima; the elegance of diegetic wind served as an effective alternative to intrusive waypoints. Bypassing a coveted November release - garnering early funds from those with litres of disposible income, before yielding sales throughout the Christmas period via canny sales campaigns - in favour of a February bow is a dire indictment upon Ubisoft’s potency as a brand. Instead of the moderately soft slate comprised of Lego Horizon Adventures, Indiana Jones and the Very Impressive Circle, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, relegated primarily to the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series respectively, Shadows will compete against Civilization VII, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Avowed, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Ironically, Assassin’s Creed has found itself overshadowed by strong competition, each bearing a greater sense of community due to their fostered idiosyncrasies.
Ubisoft’s prodigious decline, however, is of their own design - not of spiteful, irrational critics, nor the Knight’s Templar. Throughout the eight generation, Ubisoft began exercising systemic content churn, altering their erstwhile eclectic identity to deliver stability to their share price. Whereas Rayman once served as the company’s mascot, his franchise - save for the Rabbids - was effectively retired; Sam Fisher was ultimately succeeded by seventy-four siege operators. Characters became obsolete; avatars were favoured. Granted, this has sanctioned some of the most purely fun titles of the past generation: Steep is a personal favourite of mine - though its spiritual sequel, Riders’ Republic, sequestered the experiences to a frustrating end. Nevertheless, this diminished focus on characterisation eventuated in the synthesis of an unintentional, eponymous formula. Every Ubisoft, irrespective of location, would involve:
Crafting;
Climbing to a high perch to scan a new area of the map;
Extensive libraries of collectables; and
Financial alternatives to gameplay, hastening progress.
Despite its material rarity, each game would receive a “Gold Edition”, bearing gifts of a robust season pass, cosmetics, and - in some instances - a lazy port of a preexisting title. Ubisoft’s complete creative death became apparent in 2020, wherein its army of studios showcased three weapons of mass consumption: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Immortals Fenyx Rising. The first represented the apotheosis of Assassin’s Creed’s dire content inflation, the second failed to establish an identity amidst a roster of hollow avatars - the micro reflecting the macro - and the following breathed too wildly to find an inner unity of purpose. The fourth horseman of their minor apocalypse came in the form of Far Cry 6 - which, true to the gritty, guerrilla spirit of the franchise, featured a collaboration with Stranger Things.
One can envison Ubisoft’s existential terror in responding to Star Wars Outlaws’ drastic underperformance, before assessing the questionable standing of their next major title. If the riches of a galaxy far, far away could not dissuade shinobi investors ailing them from within, how could an Assassin’s Creed drawing universal ambivalence certify their fortitude against a share price around the cost of three Parisian coffees? Perhaps there is no feasible panacea to Ubisoft’s immediate anxities; positive critical reception does not regain the trust of consumers overnight. Could Capcom’s model of modernising their catalogue, complimented by modest original titles - a la The Lost Crown - provide an appropriate solution in time? Regrettably, not with the band of vultures circling their assets; their enterprise is simply too enormous to readjust this drastically. Ubisoft as we have known it, know it, and expect it to be will cease to exist by the merciful end of this generation - maybe another 2D Rayman could have helped, after all.