Instead of a new Assassin’s Creed game this year, Ubisoft is releasing The Ezio Collection, as the company wants to take some time to “revolutionize” the franchise, which many expected would be back in 2017. However, according to Tommy Francois, Ubisoft VP of Editorial, both Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry could skip 2017 if they aren’t ready:
I’ll tell you what. We believe Alpha for these games needs to be one year before release. We’re trying to achieve that. That’s super f***ing blunt, I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say this. This is the goal we’re going for: Alpha one year before, more quality, more polish.
So if this means biting the [bullet] and not having an Assassin’s game, or a Far Cry  [in 2017], f**k it. As Francois adds in the interview with IGN, Alpha means “just saying getting stuff done, but leaving time for polish and innovation,” and not necessarily that it’s ready for public testing. He added, “We still need to have an Alpha, and we need it available as early as we possibly can, because the more time we have for this the more polish we have, the more time we can change, refine, swap systems. You just can’t take shortcuts.”
Far Cry Primal released earlier this year, so it would make sense if Ubisoft wanted to give the franchise 2017 off to avoid over-exposure. As Francois puts it though, this isn’t true and Far Cry games have only been goin...