Assassin's Creed franchise ending already written

Although it has no immediate plans to end the franchise, Ubisoft knows how the story of Assassin's Creed will wind down when the time comes.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag game director Ashraf Ismail said a rough outline of the ending narrative is already in place.

"The brand team that sits on top and is filled with writers and designers concerned with the series' overall arc. So there is an overall arc, and each iteration has its place inside this," he said.

"We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is."

Ismail confirmed Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's statement that Assassin's Creed is an annual title, thanks to multiple development teams, and said that the overall plan has room for changes if necessary.

"Depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we've given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end," he reiterated.

Because Ubisoft has multiple Assassin's Creed titles in the works at any given time - including three more right now - on a staggered development schedule, teams are able to ask each other to drop hints and foreshadowing into each other's titles.

"We're now able to seed stuff earlier and earlier in our games. So for example in Assassin's Creed 4 we have Edward, who was seeded in Assassin's Creed 3. But there's a lot more stuff in our game that is hinting at other possibilities," Ismail said.

The latest entry, Black Flag, is coming to PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Only the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have been confirmed for launch at the end of October and early November; the next-gen releases are expected when the new hardware turns up and the PC release is likely to trail consoles a little.