Game Changer: Brace Yourself for a Revolutionary Collaboration Between Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed!

Highlights

Despite controversial annual release schedules, Call of Duty has remained popular and consistently topped bestseller lists.

Ubisoft may adopt a yearly release pattern for its Assassin's Creed franchise, similar to Call of Duty, in order to prioritize its popular IPs. Moreover, both franchises are working on hub/platform games to unite their respective game series.

Like many other forms of entertainment, franchises play a vital role in the world of video games. Although new intellectual properties (IPs) often offer fresh and innovative ideas, they face greater challenges in proving themselves compared to well-established AAA franchises. Once a video game IP reaches the franchise stage, success becomes more attainable, with loyal fans eagerly embracing every new installment in the series. Amongst the various video game franchises, none have achieved the same level of popularity as Call of Duty.

Introduced in 2003, Call of Duty enjoyed a decent level of success initially, but it soared to unimaginable heights with the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007. Since then, each Call of Duty release consistently dominates the bestseller lists, and the upcoming highly anticipated installment indicates that the franchise's momentum shows no signs of waning. Another enduring franchise that refuses to lose steam is Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series. Although it may currently appear dissimilar to Call of Duty, the two franchises are soon to become more alike.

Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty Might Start to Share Some Big Similarities

Content has been annually released since Call of Duty 2 in 2005, which can be seen as both positive and negative. Fans have the joy of looking forward to and enjoying a new experience each year. However, the release schedule has caused controversy due to rushed development resulting in disappointing game modes and mechanics.

Similarly, the Assassin's Creed franchise also had an annual release until 2015. However, diminishing sales caused Ubisoft to reevaluate and create a new RPG-focused era for the franchise. This decision allowed the series to have a longer development cycle, with at least two years between each entry since Odyssey.

The Assassin's Creed franchise is on the brink of change. Ubisoft is currently facing an identity crisis and has decided to solely focus on its most prominent IPs, with Assassin's Creed being its flagship property. In May of this year, Ubisoft announced that they would be expanding the Assassin's Creed development team by 40% in the upcoming years. This suggests that fans can expect a significant increase in the number of Assassin's Creed games, possibly surpassing previous releases. Fans should anticipate a return to an annual release schedule similar to Call of Duty, as well as mobile ports and spinoffs.

However, the similarities between Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty don't end there. Coinciding with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Activision will introduce a new hub platform called Call of Duty HQ. This platform will consolidate all recent and upcoming Call of Duty games, allowing players easy access to each one.

This seems reminiscent of Assassin's Creed Infinity, an ongoing project by Ubisoft for the Assassin's Creed series that revolves around a hub/platform game concept. Should both Call of Duty HQ and Assassin's Creed Infinity achieve success, it could potentially signal the emergence of a new trend for major gaming franchises.