One vote at Ubisoft for giving the Assassin's Creed franchise a year off

"I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011," Ubisoft associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin told Eurogamer. "I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around."

Since the release of Assassin's Creed 2, we've seen the release of threeAssassin's Creedgames, with twomore on the way. Boivin seems justified in being concerned with franchise fatigue, even citing the case of music games like Guitar Hero, whose releases Activision has pledged to curtail.

"Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody – and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games," Boivin said, "I believe that this license needs a breather. You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years – or once every something – you have to let it breathe." We think he's right about one thing -- that the corporate side of the company can override even the best creative decision to sell some games. Which is exactly what's going to happen in 2011.