In the aftermath of the news, Axios’ Stephen Totilo has suggested that the sequel was cancelled so Ubisoft could focus more on the development of Assassin’s Creed Codename RED. Taking to Twitter, Totilo said that though the Immortals sequel’s focus on Polynesian mythology was “promising and being handled well”, Ubisoft instead decided to have its Quebec studio focus on the development of the next flagship Assassin’s Creed title.

According to Totilo, with Ubisoft expanding its focus on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it was decided that Assassin’s Creed Codename RED needed more people working on it (as, interestingly enough, did Codename HEXE, which is being made by Ubisoft Montreal). VGC’s Andy Robinson, who originally broke the story on the cancellation of Immortals’ sequels, also chimed in, saying that the leads on the cancelled title’s development team are “pushing back on being moved” to Assassin’s Creed.

Assassin’s Creed Codename RED will an open world RPG, and will be set in Feudal Japan, though not much else is officially known about the game. Leaks have claimed that it will feature two protagonists – a samurai and a shinobi – and is targeting a 2024 launch.

Notable that Ubisoft's statement says staff is being moved to unannounced projects, which I'm sure is the case for many. But the expectation from people I spoke to close to Ubisoft was that Red could use more people (as does Hexe) as Ubisoft bets on AC for its future

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) July 28, 2023

I’m told that many Immortals leads are pushing back on being moved to AC. Will be interesting to see how that pans out

— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) July 28, 2023

The same was confirmed by CEO Yves Guillemot during the company’s most recent earnings call (via VGC). Guillemot says the expansion will happen “over the coming years” as part of Ubisoft’s “progressive reallocation of resources”. Currently, the company already has over 2,000 people working on the Assassin’s Creed franchise across a number of studios.

“As part of our progressive reallocation of resources, we notably plan to increase the number of talents working on the Assassin’s Creed brand by 40% over the coming years,” Guillemot said.

Currently, Ubisoft has six Assassin’s Creed titles that are confirmed to be in development. Closest to launch is Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is likely to get its long-awaited gameplay reveal at the Ubisoft Forward showcase next month, though reports have claimed that the game has been internally delayed to October. The next two mainline instalments after that, Codename RED and Codename HEXE, are also currently in the works.

An open world action RPG for mobile devices is in development in the form of Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, in addition to VR title Nexus and standalone multiplayer game Invictus.

As per leaks from earlier this year, in addition to the aforementioned six titles, Ubisoft has another four in varying stages of production that it hasn’t yet publicly spoken about- Project Nebula, a game that will feature three distinct settings; Project Raid, a free-to-play four-player co-op title; Project Echoes, a multiplayer game built on Ubisoft’s Scalar cloud computing technology; and a sequel to the aforementioned Nexus.

Assassin’s Creed Codename RED was officially announced last year, with Ubisoft confirming that the series will finally be taking players to Japan, a setting that has been in heavy demand by fans for years. Details on the title have remained scant since then, but as per the report, the game will feature two playable protagonists. Whether that will be similar in execution to how Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Valhalla did it remains to be seen. Meanwhile, as per the report, Codename RED will also be focused primarily on stealth.

The report also claims that the project is “already in good shape” behind the scenes, which somewhat contradicts past reports that claimed the game was facing some behind-the-scenes issues brought on by a number of departures at Ubisoft Quebec, the studio in charge of the project. As per the report, Codename RED is targeting a 2024 launch.

Meanwhile, it also seems like Ubisoft is looking to revert to an annual release schedule for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, with as many as 10 titles currently in varying stages of production- read more on that through here.