Assassin's Creed's 2016 Hiatus Now Official

I reported earlier on a rumor that Ubisoft might be doing the smart thing and giving it’s long-standing Assassin’s Creed ‘thing’ where it released a new game every year a rest. I’m happy to report that speculation is no longer merely a rumor but has evolved into a fact: Ubisoft has made it official that a proper Assassin’s Creed game won’t be released until 2017. This would make it the first year since 2009 where we haven’t gotten one.

In a blog post released yesterday, Ubisoft starts things off by congratulating themselves on what a great job they did on Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Then, they spent a little time discussing how cool the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Movie (coming December 21st!) will be. But after all that self congratulations, the meaty bit comes up:
 

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.

So, 2016 will be remembered throughout history as the year where Ubisoft only released a bunch of smaller Assassin’s Creeds games and a the movie. Or maybe it’ll be remembered some other way, but at least this is in the running.