Among the responsibilities of Vantage Studios will be to “take on development and expansion of these brands, building on the foundation of Ubisoft’s experience and expertise, sharing services and technical resources, all while giving developers more hands-on control over the games they are building.”

Vantage Studios will be headed up by Charlie Guillemot – the son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot – and Christophe Derennes in the roles of co-CEOs. Its employees will be comprised of a number of developers from across Ubisoft’s various development studios in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia.

“Vantage Studios represents a first step in Ubisoft’s ongoing transformation, with plans to set up additional creative houses and group its brands and franchises under the banner of a shared DNA and development expertise,” wrote the company in its announcement. “The goal of Vantage Studios, and future creative houses, is to facilitate stronger and deeper connections between developers and players.”

Vantage Studios was first announced earlier this year, with reports indicating that it would be a joint venture between Ubisoft and Tencent. A report from back in May indicated that the studio’s primary purpose would be to develop single-player games and narrative-driven experiences, as well as expand on live-service offerings that Ubisoft already has by focusing on more frequent content updates.

“To support this vision, the Company is currently working on reshaping its operating model with the objective to better meet player needs, deliver superior game quality and drive disciplined capital allocation,” wrote the company. “Management targets to announce the new organization by the end of the year.”

Ubisoft had noted that the studio – at the time only referred to as an unnamed subsidiary – was being created with the vision of reshaping the overall operating model of the company in order to better hit its targets in terms of game quality and capital allocation. The subsidiary was founded with a €1.16 billion investment by Tencent, which also gave the company a 25 percent economic interest in it.

“With this transaction, Tencent will invest €1.16bn in a primary issuance by the New Subsidiary, acquiring an approximate 25% economic interest,” explained Ubisoft. “At closing, at least €500m will be upstreamed to Ubisoft, ensuring sufficient working capital needs of the New Subsidiary at start.”

As for Yves Guillemot’s son taking on the role of co-CEO at Vantage Studios, questions had already risen back in July when the was first announced for the position. In an interview, Charlie Guillemot spoke about how, while he is Yves’ son, his appointment to the role wasn’t a case of nepotism.

“I’ve spent the last decade building experience both inside and outside Ubisoft, leading teams, managing brands, and navigating change in a fast-moving industry,” he explained. “I also made the conscious choice to step away when it made sense, to learn and grow elsewhere.”

As reported by TweakTown’s Derek Strickland on Twitter, Ubisoft recently announced that the Assassin’s Creed franchise has collectively sold over 200 million units worldwide in the fifteen years since it kicked off. Presumably, that includes all Assassin’s Creed games, including spinoffs, handheld titles, and what have you. Given how well most Assassin’s Creed games tend to sell though, this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Series fans have plenty to look forward to in the coming years as well. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is getting its final content update later this year, while 2023 will see the launch of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Meanwhile, Ubisoft is also working on Codename RED and Codename HEXE, both of which will join the continuously evolving Infinity hub. Meanwhile, open world action RPG Codename Jade is also in development for mobile devices.

The Assassin's Creed franchise has now sold more than 200 million copies worldwide. pic.twitter.com/OdAuHE0sAf

— Derek Strickland (@DeekeTweak) September 10, 2022

A recent report claimed that Ubisoft was working on Assassin’s Creed Rift, which initially started out as an expansion to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but has, over the course of development, morphed into its own standalone game. While that report claimed that the game would launch in late 2022, a new report published on Xfire by known insider Tom Henderson suggests otherwise.

According to Henderson, Assassin’s Creed Rift is currently targeting a launch in the first half of 2023. Ubisoft has allegedly settled on that timeline based on the release schedule of Assassin’s Creed Infinity, the next main Assassin’s Creed instalment.

The smaller-scale Rift will allegedly feature Basim – who was a prominent character in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – as the protagonist, and will put a greater emphasis on stealth rather than being an open world action RPG.

Coming back to Assassin’s Creed Infinity, the live service title was officially confirmed to be in development less than a year ago, and according to Henderson, it is still “somewhat in early production”. The game is allegedly expected to launch sometime in either 2024 or 2025, which falls in line with previous reports as well.

Meanwhile, Henderson states that Assassin’s Creed Infinity is going to “tie all the future Assassin’s Creed titles together” in a single live service experience, and that the Animus is going to be the central hub of the experience that will tie together stories set in different settings and time periods, with more and more continuously added to the game.

There’s no word on when either Assassin’s Creed Infinity or Assassin’s Creed Rift will be formally unveiled, but Henderson claims Ubisoft has 20 announcements and updates lined up for the near future, so there’s a chance that at least Rift is one of those.

Courtesy of Henderson, there’s plenty of other potential Ubisoft-related leaks to dive into as well, including the likes of The Crew 3, a new Prince of Persia game, and an Immortals Fenyx Rising sequel, so make sure to read up on that.

Another similar expansion, however, seems to have taken a different shape. In a recently published report, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has stated that according to people familiar with Ubisoft’s plans, the company is planning on releasing a new Assassin’s Creed game either later this year or in 2022. Interestingly, the game started development as another Assassin’s Creed Valhalla expansion, but was morphed into a standalone project late last year, with Ubisoft intending to use it to fill out what’s looking like an increasingly unpopulated release schedule for the coming year.

According to the report, the game, currently codenamed Rift, will revolve around Basim, a character that Valhalla fans will remember well. Interestingly, this standalone project is not going to be a massive open world RPG, which is what Assassin’s Creed has turned into in recent years, and will instead by a smaller, more focused experience that will put a greater emphasis on stealth.

There’s no denying that Ubisoft’s upcoming release schedule does look a little light, especially with so many of their announced games either having no release dates or having attracted a fair bit of backlash from fans following their announcements. A smaller stealth-focused Assassin’s Creed game might work out rather well for several reasons.

The next Assassin’s Creed game has been in the rumour mill for about a year now, but it seems Ubisoft will soon be officially unveiling the game. Industry insider Shinobi, who recently teased that an announcement for the same was coming soon, recently took to ResetEra and suggested that an announcement related to Assassin’s Creed, PS5, and Xbox Series X would be made later today.

In addition to that, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad also added fuel to the fire on Twitter, sharing an update by Ubisoft on Chinese social media website Weibo teasing an announcement later today at 8 PM Chinese time (which would be 5 AM Pacific Time or 12 PM GMT), before saying that it would be “worth paying attention to Ubisoft social media outside of China too”, both today and tomorrow.

Multiple leaks over the last year have claimed that the next Assassin’s Creed game will be set during Viking times and that it will be a cross-gen title, out later this year. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for any and all updates on this story.

Ubisoft China is teasing an announcement for April 29, 8pm (China time).

They set a notification on Weibo for it. pic.twitter.com/HQoKMyUJLW

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 29, 2020

It’s worth paying attention to Ubisoft social media outside of China too. Both today and tomorrow.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 29, 2020

The next Assassin’s Creed game has been at the centre of numerous leaks and rumours over the past year – as is often the case with Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed titles – but it seems it might be getting its official reveal not long from now.

Insider shinobi602 recently took to Twitter, and when asked about any new news about the new Assassin’s Creed title, simply responded, “Almost there.”

Assassin’s Creed’s next instalment was first leaked about a year ago, with many stating that it would be set in Scandinavia during the Vikings era, following which multiple other details of the game have also emerged. The credibility of many of these leaks remains in doubt, with reports that many of these details aren’t exactly accurate, but that a Vikings-era Assassin’s Creed game will be launching in the foreseeable future seems like a given at this point.

Ubisoft often lifts the lid on Assassin’s Creed titles during E3, and though E3 2020 has been cancelled, the company has said it is considering other alternatives to share its plans for upcoming releases- so a reveal for the next Assassin’s Creed game may very well be on the horizon. Either way, stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.

Almost there.

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) April 16, 2020