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Ubi Focuses On AAA, New Assassin's Creed To Hit Next Fiscal Year
by Leigh Alexander
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January 13, 2010
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Ubisoft's pipeline for the fiscal year to come includes "a new episode of Assassin’s Creed, which will be the first in the series to have an online multiplayer mode."
The French-headquartered publisher has historically thrived on the diversity of its product mix, balancing licensed film tie ins, family-friendly DS and Wii titles, and core games like Assassin's Creed and the Tom Clancy-branded games.
But burned by retailer discounts on catalog games and a casual portfolio it says has shrunk as much as 50 percent since last year, the publisher is shoring up its focus on competitive AAA core titles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 -- and that means it plans to launch a third Assassin's Creed game in its next fiscal year.
Ubisoft's fiscal 2010 begins in April and ends in March 2011, and in a statement today alongside its reduced quarterly and annual forecast, the company said the fiscal year to come "will see a greater number of franchise releases than fiscal year 2009-10."
This includes the mentioned Assassin's Creed release -- which the company confirmed to Gamasutra refers specifically to an entirely new game and not the planned DLC content associated with AC2.
It also includes delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction, which was moved from February 23, 2010 to April, but a new Ghost Recon series game and the recently-announced Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. Other titles the publisher lists for its fiscal 2010-11 include Raving Rabbids 4 and Driver.
"The fiscal year 2010-11 line-up will be more focused on the Xbox 360 and Playstation, the consoles which are expected to experience sustained sales growth in games for gamers in calendar 2010," says Ubisoft. "Other new franchises and innovations will also be announced throughout the year."
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Still looking forward to the new SC game...hopefully worth the prolonged wait.