Why Is “Assassin’s Creed Rogue” Not Coming to Current Generation Consoles?
Ubisoft Wants to Split Gamers on Their Platform Preference This Year
"Assassin's Creed Rogue" will be one of two Assassin's Creed titles coming this year alongside "Assassin's Creed Unity." Ubisoft has decided to split the franchise into two games per year, "Rogue" on the last generation consoles and "Unity" on the current generation platforms.
This is an odd choice considering Ubisoft has previously tried to add the "Assassin's Creed" annual game on all platforms, old and new. "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" released for the PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC and even the Wii U, showing how much Ubisoft cared about tending to all customers.
Rogue and Unity
For those that haven't kept up to date on the "Assassin's Creed" situation, Ubisoft will be developing "Assassin's Creed Unity" as the next step in the franchise, moving to the French Revolution in the late 1700's, a generation after the events in North America. "Assassin's Creed Rogue" will finish the North American chapter, set in between the events of "AC IV: Black Flag" and "AC III."
Ubisoft claims they want to finish the North American chapter on the consoles that started it, meaning the the Xbox 360 and PS3. This would make sense if Ubisoft had not ported "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" onto the current generation platforms.
It feels more like this year, Ubisoft wants to break boundaries with "Assassin's Creed Unity," adding a new engine upgrade, larger cities, and other upgrades the last generation might not be able to handle. In its place comes "Assassin's Creed Rogue" for fans of the "AC" series who do not own a current generation console or PC.
Why Rogue Should Be Ported
This works for "Assassin's Creed Unity," because Ubisoft has a genuine reason why "Unity" will not run on the previous generation consoles. For "Assassin's Creed Rogue," though, there is actually no reason why it would only be available on Xbox 360 and PS3, especially when it looks almost identical to "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" in terms of graphics and engine.
"Assassin's Creed Rogue" looks like a fun part in between Connor and Edward Kenway's story, following the life of an Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac, now working with Connor's father, Haytham Kenway. For fans of the series who have played all of the games on PC, it is a shame to see Ubisoft once again forget the platform.
Right now, all games coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 should also come to PS4 and Xbox One. There is no reason to not bring the games to the current generation. The architecture is less confusing for developers, the price for porting the game is cheaper, and there is a very small library of games and over 15 million players.
Even if "Assassin's Creed Rogue" turns out to be a bore, it should be a bore everyone can enjoy like "Assassin's Creed III." Locking it away on Xbox 360 and PS3 might satisfy the small development team and the people who only play Xbox 360 and PS3, but it is unfair to the millions of fans of "Assassin's Creed" on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue 8 / 10 Read our Review »
Release: 11/11/2014 [NA] 11/11/2014 [EU]
ESRB Rating: Adults Only 18+
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Purchase: Amazon
