Ubisoft has defended the pace at which it releases Assassin's Creed games by stating that complaints about this year's two-game launch schedule come from only a "vocal minority" of players.

October will see the arrival of the French Revolution-set Assassin's Creed: Unity for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while the Templar-starring Assassin's Creed: Rogue will follow for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November.

When asked whether two games in two months might be too much for some fans, Rogue producer Karl von der Luhe told Eurogamer that he believed it was only "a vocal minority that feel that way".

"There are the hardcore Assassin's Creed fans that are happy to play two games and there are of course many fans who have not yet made that financial move to go to next-gen," Luhe explained during an interview at Gamescom today.

"And these are the guys that we're really catering for - they're thankful for the fact that they will have a compelling Assassin's Creed game to play on either their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3."

The decision to release two games this year was made "a long time ago", although full production on Rogue did not begin until more recently. Exactly when, Ubisoft was not willing to say.

"The idea of being a Templar has been around for years - ever since AC1," Luhe said. "Locking down the actual idea and story, that was around two years ago."

And full production? "I won't go into the exact details of when we started and all that, but we're very confident with the amount of time we've had this."

Some fans have expressed disappointment that Rogue's main city map is based around New York, a location that was already featured in Assassin's Creed 3.

But the decision to revisit the city wasn't due to development-related time pressures, Luhe argued, and players will notice changes in the environment from their last visit.

"New York in Assassin's Creed: Rogue is set 20 years before the New York in Assassin's Creed 3 - that brings two massive differentials between the two games.

"First of all, in AC3 you'll remember the whole district - around a quarter of the map - was completely burnt out because there had been a fire in New York at that time. Rogue being a few decades earlier, that whole quarter still existed meaning there's a whole new part of the city that the player will be able to explore.

"On top of that, politically speaking it's very different. We're now set during the Seven Years War - it's a clash between empires, the gangs are now rampant. We have a new feature called the Gang HQ - there are many of those around New York with an assassin camped inside who will be very tough and a badass to take down."

The Frontier-like Appalachian River Valley will feature "some smaller cities", and then there will be the whole of the North Atlantic Ocean to sail and explore.

In total, the game's land-based area will be bigger than Black Flag's, with "more than 20 hours" of gameplay included.

The story will see Assassin-turned-Templar Shay meet Assassin's Creed 3's Haytham Kenway - now the Templar leader in North America - who will be at your side for "a bunch" of missions. "You'll see a lot of him in the game," Luhe explained.

A modern day component to the story will also be included, although Luhe declined to give any further details.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-14-ubisoft-only-vocal-minority-complains-about-number-of-assassins-creed-games

Brand fatigue eventually happens.

Compared to the copies of the game they sell, yeh no doubt.

Actually no. Only idiots complain about too many games. And last I checked idiots aren't a minority.

Internet whiners are in the minority by definition. We're the nerds of the gaming industry. Most people do all their research minutes before buying a game from the people who work there

The sales of the franchise proves that this is so, and as a person who who has spent 25+ hours every year on a new assassins creed m glad it comes out every year because there is no other game like it.

That said I am expecting a drop in quality for the Rogue title and lots of reused assets, but that game is released only as a tribute to fans on ps3/360. However finally playing as a Templar will make up for it and Haytham is coolest jerk ever. Unity on the other will be state of the art :)

I don't have a problem with the yearly releases.

Ubisoft is sooooo arrogant. So done with them.

They always make trash.

I have no problem with them making the AC games every year.  Each one gets enough development time and they are quality games so I see no problem.  If the brand goes down then so be it, a new IP will come out of that. 

I agree with Ubisoft. There obviously is a big market for their annual AC game. I'm not one of those, so I don't have the need to complain, there are plenty of choices for me to buy and play.