The Assassin's Creed games are synonymous with blockbuster AAA releases, mostly on account of being one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises. The latest entry in the series, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, broke many sales records and was reviewed generally well. While there's still a lot of planned DLC for the future, it seems that fans of the series are already fixated on learning more about the next release in the franchise.

There's a whole host of rumors swirling for the next Assassin's Creed, covering anything from the protagonist's gender to a multitude of possible settings. The credibility of these rumors varies radically, but there's quite a bit of information available that may hint about the release window of the next game.

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While there's little to no official information available about the next Assassin's Creed game, there are a plethora of rumors that suggest several things about the various facets of the game. The most prominent rumor seems to be regarding the game's development, which says that responsibilities for developing the next Assassin's Creed game would go to Ubisoft Sofia, developers of Assassin's Creed 3: Liberations and Assassin's Creed Rogue.

The rumor mill has churned out additional rumors as well, particularly with regards to the game's setting. China seems to be a promising setting and one that Ubisoft might want to visit after the success of games like Ghost of Tsushima. There's a lot of other credible settings too, with three notable mentions being Brazil, India, and even The Third Crusade.

In addition to the two sets of rumors, there have been reports about a potential return to form with the next game. Rumors indicate that Ubisoft Sofia's vision for the next game is combining the older Assassin's Creed games with the new Tomb Raider trilogy, which certainly sounds enticing from the eyes of long-time fans.

While such a claim may sound unlikely on the surface, there's a lot of information already floating around to support such a possibility. The biggest elephant in the room might just be the seemingly odd choice for Ubisoft to entrust the development responsibilities to Ubisoft Sofia, instead of Ubisoft Montreal or Quebec, which have led the development of recent mainline entries. This does not imply Ubisoft Sofia is incompetent for leading a project, but could indicate a pared-back scale, in terms of the scope of the next game.

Many have claimed that the seemingly radical shift could even point towards the next game being a spin-off, much like what Ubisoft Sofia has produced in the past. Considering such rumors to be true, there's the possibility that fans might see a new entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise land on shelves this year. If that's the case, fans can surely expect to hear something official during Ubisoft's E3 2021 conference, and if previous Ubisoft trends are anything to go by, even leaks ahead of the official announcements.

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Assassin's Creed had been an annual franchise for quite some time, but the franchise fatigue and mediocre sales for 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate warranted Ubisoft taking a break from the tradition. Assassin's Creed Origins released two years later, with Ubisoft quickly following suit with 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Ubisoft again took a year off and released Assassin's Creed Valhalla in 2020. Much of the reasoning behind the second gap can be attributed to the extensively lined-up DLC model for Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

It seems that Ubisoft might very well continue the trend with Valhalla, as there's already a lot of DLC planned for release this year. Some reports also suggest that the third bit of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's DLC might be a standalone release, possibly to cover up for the lack of a mainline game releasing this year. Ubisoft might have struck gold by shifting Assassin's Creed to a biannual franchise, where it can potentially achieve more sales with extensive DLC content, which likely costs considerably less to make than a standalone title.

Other reports for the Ubisoft Sofia-led title suggest that the game may be a mainline entry, and would instead release in 2022. Other unproven reports also suggest that the 2022 release might be because of internal delays, with the team not being able to complete development at a normal place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Regardless of the reason, a 2022 Assassin's Creed would probably imply that the game would be absent from Ubisoft's E3 2021 presentation. Perhaps Valhalla's DLC might fill in the shoes for the time being.

As of the time of writing, the most plausible rumors seem to indicate a 2022 release. In addition to this, it seems that the next game might just be the biggest effort that Ubisoft has put in bridging the gap of its divided community, where many fans still yearn for a traditional Assassin's Creed game, while others wish Assassin's Creed continue the RPG path it's seemingly headed.

Assassin's Creed 2022 is rumored to be in development.

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