Assassin’s Creed Ending Already Written, No MP Naval Battles in AC4

The problem with a lot of annual game franchises is that they don’t always plan ahead. Some minute details in one game can drastically hurt the story of a series, as the conclusion might have to veer ungracefully back to an intended path. Thankfully for Ubisoft and the Assassin’s Creed franchise, this problem has been avoided.

Discussing with Eurogamer, Assassin’s Creed 4 game director Ashraf Ismail reveals that the wheels are in motion towards an inevitable conclusion to the series, as known by the franchise’s top bosses.

"We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is. But of course Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft’s overall boss] announced we are a yearly title, we ship one game a year. So depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we’ve given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end."

Additionally, Ismail notes that there are drastic improvements to boarding ships, as they now one ongoing scene. No longer are the days of cutscenes required to board a ship, although the development team was unable to master the mechanics of an online multiplayer naval battle system.

"We had really cool prototypes but to get it to work and to balance the systems – the balance of naval is tricky – to do that in multiplayer… we just couldn’t do it in this iteration."

Perhaps it will be included in next year’s installment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, one that seemingly has no end in sight. With an abundance of historical figures written into the overarching story under the guise of artistic license, there is no telling how long this series will last.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will release later this year for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U on October 29th, plus it will be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC later during the holiday season.