Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told Kotaku during E3 this week that the company has three entries in the Assassin's Creed franchise currently in development.
However, Guillemot insists the company will avoid series fatigue commenting "We are making sure the teams who are creating different iterations have enough time – two years, three years, so that they can take risks and they can change the concept enough so that it can be appealing and fresh."
Assassin's Creed games are usually made by rotating teams across multiple studios with at least seven involved in the development of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag – presumably one of the three games Guillemot was referring to.
"Really, what we see is that we can have the capacity to regularly come with innovation," he added. "That is, for me, the formula: if you really change the game on a regular basis and bring in innovation your fans want a product very regularly. Our job is to make sure the teams have enough power, enough energy and enough time to take the necessary steps to create a high quality game."
It's likely one of the other games is next year's major installment (Assassin's Creed 5?) while the third could be the one after that or it could be referring to Assassin's Creed Rising Phoenix which has been listed as a PlayStation Vita title though it has not yet been officially announced. Alternatively, the third game could be something like a mobile spin-off.
Assassin's Creed 4 is set to be released on PS3, PS4, PC, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One later this year. The PS3 and PS4 versions of the game will feature Aveline, who starred in Vita title Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat has previously said "players will tell us" when the series is stale.
