Insider Gaming claims to have the inside scoop on how Assassin’s Creed Infinity works.
Ubisoft made the announcement that they would start releasing Assassin’s Creed games once every two years, breaking away from the current annualized schedule. While Ubisoft clearly still has the capability to make annual releases, this move looks like it is intended to please fans who want the studio to take more time with polishing their games. Furthermore, it allows Ubisoft to change up how they monetize the franchise.
And that’s where Assassin’s Creed Infinity comes in. As we know from earlier rumors, this will be a hub for Assassin’s Creed games, which will have a live service element. All the games will be easily accessible through it, but we don’t know much more than that.
And so we go to Insider Gaming’s report. As they say, the hub will launch with Assassin’s Creed Red, and it will supposedly work so well that it will be more convenient to run the game through Assassin’s Creed Infinity than by trying to launch the program file itself.
From there, we go to the live service offerings. “The Exchange” is a straightforward item shop, with daily and weekly cosmetics. There will also be battle passes, but in keeping with the lore of the franchise, they are referred to as “Projects”. These Projects have to be accessed via “Synchronization”, presumably with Abstergo’s systems.
The Projects seem to be the core of the Assassin’s Creed Infinity concept. The Projects will be the regularly occurring new content, on top of each new full title release, and that title’s DLC.
The demo that Insider Gaming got to experience doesn’t seem to include any of the Assassin’s Creed games that were already released, whether that’s recent titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, or the classics like Assassin’s Creed II. That could be something Ubisoft adds later since those games likely won’t have that live service element. Unless, of course, the fans demand that thing that seems obvious to add.
The idea for Assassin’s Creed Infinity seems to pretty much be cribbed from other live service games that run their own little economies on their own launchers. Those range from the recently launched Call of Duty hub, to Destiny 2’s hub, to Genshin Impact.
So we can see why Ubisoft wants to change things up with a hub. As to whether it will work or not for Assassin’s Creed, which is literally a tentpole single player AAA franchise, is a different matter. But we’ll see if this is exactly how Ubisoft decides to play it and if the fans will take to it.
