Ubisoft Project 60% Growth – Takes Assassin’s Creed Off Yearly Cycle

Ubisoft has revealed its roadmap for the next three years, over which period it plans to grow its revenues by 60%. The French company’s plan includes scaling back the yearly release of games in its Assassin’s Creed franchise and expanding its intellectual properties into transmedia franchises, following the production of the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed movie, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed during an Investor Day call [PDF].

Guillemot says that the AAA games industry has become less hit-driven to become a more dependable business space, at least for the major players. Ubisoft will also focus on multiplayer games with a long life cycle, high engagement, and year-round and multi-year services as part of “a clear strategic road map that has already started to deliver,” the Financial Times reports.

“We want shareholders to have the right information about where we are going and how we will get there, and to understand how dangerous creeping control could be,” Guillemot said.

Ubisoft has also announced that it will break its yearly release cycle of Assassin’s Creed games, starting this year. Instead, it will “re-examine” its approach to the series, with no new game due in 2016.

A Ubisoft blog post reads:

“This year, we also are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin’s Creed franchise. As a result, we’ve decided that there will not be a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2016. Since the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity, we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback. We’ve also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin’s Creed a premier open-world franchise. We’re taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we’re delivering on the promise of Assassin’s Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone’s playground.”

Ubisoft shares closed up 11 per cent to €22.31 on Thursday (18th February).