Assassin's Creed annual release argument all about quality, Ubisoft says

The argument over whether blockbuster games like Assassin's Creed should be released on an annual basis is "strange", the series' creative director has said.

Ubisoft Montreal's Alex Hutchinson has said the argument should not be about the frequency of the release schedule, but merely about the quality.

"I find it strange we've decided yearly is too often," Hutchinson said during a panel at GDC Europe today. "If Radiohead put out an album every month, I'd buy it. It's about the quality."

Annual sequels allow Ubisoft to keep the brand "in people's minds", Hutchinson argued. "We can keep telling the story."

A franchise brand team was formed after the success of Assassin's Creed 2 - the point at which work on Assassin's Creed 3 began. It has since tracked the growth of the series, as Ubisoft released two Ezio-era sequels in successive years.

"Assassin's Creed 3 is as displaced from Assassin's Creed 2 as much as Medal of Honor is from Call of Duty," Hutchinson added, saying that the team treated this year's instalment like it was an entirely new franchise.

The panel also included details of a location cut from the game's final version. Players would have originally been able to explore Philadelphia - a key city in the American Revolution. But its grid-like road layout posed problems for the team (technically in terms of draw distance, and it wasn't as much fun), so the area will now only be glimpsed in cut-scenes.