Assassin’s Creed’s transition into full blown Open World titles with 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins was a huge turning point for the series and an equally mystifying one as the publisher had never officially revealed what had led to the dramatic shift in gameplay model in the series. But perhaps the closest we can ever come to know is from Alex Hutchinson, a Ubisoft veteran who directed both Assassin’s Creed 3 and Far Cry 4, and in a recent interview with Gamesrader, has shared insights on some of the development processes before the release of Origins.
Hutchinson had left Ubisoft only months before Origins was released so his perspective would be quite accurate on what made the shift in the series:
“At the time there was a lot of pressure inside Ubisoft to ‘keep the disc in the tray’ to essentially try to delay resale as GameStop was the only one making any money on that transaction,” Hutchinson stated. “Designers were being asked to add play time which seemed like the most pro gamer solution to the problem in a franchise where multiplayer had never really worked.”
He also added that “Action adventure games are notoriously expensive per game hour, so the cheapest and most effective way to bulk it out was to add RPG elements.”
But he does acknowledge that the decision initially perplexed him as he wasn’t sure if Assassin’s Creed would work in the RPG-mold.
“I think it’s the only franchise I can think of that changed genre and kept its audience, so it was risky but it seems to have worked. That said I always thought it was a peculiar decision for a franchise where they also wanted to put them out as close to annually as possible.
“I was worried that if you had 200 hours of AC you just played then would you really be in the mood for more a year later? I think luckily the radical change in setting and often protagonist means it feels more fresh than most franchises so they get away with it, but my heart is in the action adventure space, not stat juggling, so I miss the old days.”
The latest entry in the series which also has RPG elements, Assassin’s Creed Shadows came out on March 20 for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S and the PC platform.
