Assassin's Creed Shadows has spent four years in development. That might not sound like a long time to gamers nowadays, but it is the longest time spent in the oven for any Assassin's Creed game to date. It might also be the future of the series.
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, lead producer Karl Onnée spoke about the differences between Assassin's Creed now versus the series' past. "Obviously there are great expectations" he said. "We always want to go better, which is what we're trying to do with Shadows. We are pushing the limits of what we can do."
"It's always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate," he continued. "Yes, you can put more people on a project and do it in a shorter time, but that doesn't give you more time to iterate, because it takes time to get the feedback from your players, your team... and then see what works and what doesn't and how to improve it. Four years, I think, is the right balance to go from conception to production and get the feedback necessary to adapt."
Assassin's Creed Shadows has ran into its fair share of controversy since being revealed, but none of that is to do with the gameplay or game world, which seems to be one of if not the best efforts Assassin's Creed has made in both regards. It does seem that time pays off, although we'll have to wait until launch to see if this Assassin's Creed is truly different from what has come before. If four years is the new sweet spot, though, expect future games to spend that extra bit of time in the oven.