During their recent online presentation, Ubisoft unveiled a slew of new details about upcoming games set in the Assassin's Creed universe. Perhaps the most surprising revelation was that the French publisher is working on an Assassin's Creed game for mobile platforms that will be available exclusively for Netflix customers.
So far both Netflix and Ubisoft have been rather tight-lipped regarding the new partnership that sees Ubisoft delivering three games for the streaming platform - those being titles based on Valiant Hearts: The Great War, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot and of course Assassin's Creed. Fortunately, we recently had the chance to attend a roundtable interview with Leanne Loombe, Head of External Game Development at Netflix, and here we learned a few more details about project.
First of all, the game will probably be set in the same universe and feature some of the characters from the upcoming Netflix live-action series being co-produced with Ubisoft.
"We're still very early with this game [Assassin's Creed], so we don't have anything to share in terms of the story line our anything like that. But this connective tissue [between the show and the game] is an extremely important part of our strategy, so we are working with Ubisoft on exactly what that looks like and how connected the game and the TV show are. Don't have anything to share on that today, but I think our overall shared goal is that fans can experience the TV show and then go to play the game in that sort of same universe and with the characters. So, it's really one of our shared goals to create that connective ecosystem," explained Leanne Loombe.
When answering a question about the overall ambitions of the Netflix Games program, Leanne Loombe also briefly touched upon how the upcoming games from Ubisoft will stay true to the scope and complexity of their respective franchises:
"I think with the Ubisoft partnership, as you can probably imagine with those three franchises if you think about the last instalments of these games, of course these are going to be really authentic and true to those franchises in a scope and complexity perspective."
Does this mean that the upcoming Assassin's Creed game for Netflix customers will feature the open environments, intense combat and parkour that the series is known for? Ubisoft has also announced a separate mobile game called Assassin's Creed Codename Jade which is designed to feel like a mainline entry, and coupled with the statement above, we think there is a good chance that the Netflix-based game will be pretty ambitious.
Of course, it's too early to tell. One thing is sure though. The upcoming Assassin's game for Netflix will be a true premium title with no advertising or microtransactions of any kind, as Leanne Loombe was quite adamant in stating that this is the current - and future - strategy of the Netflix Games program.
As for when the game releases: It all depends on the Assassin's Creed live-action series that it ties into. That project is still being described as early in development, which most likely means it will be a while before we learn any more details about the upcoming Netflix game.
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