I always had a hard time caring about the Assassin’s Creed series until recently. I put a few hours into the first Assassin’s Creed game but it just didn’t click for me. When the second entry into the series came out 2 years later I heard great things about it and decided to give it the same chance. But I got the same end result. It just never seemed fun or amazing in anyway. But this changed for me with last year’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. I already talked about my time with this game, so I’m not going to retread that ground here. So let’s just say I had a goddamn blast with it, and now I care about the series. I was late to play ACIV though, so much so that I finished the game a week or so before E3. So I was pretty hyped for the series when Unity was shown at E3. The game was instantly a must buy for me. Recently another Assassin’s Creed game was announced. Assassin’s Creed Rogue will be coming to last gen consoles while Assassin’s Creed Unity will be coming to current gen consoles. I don’t like the way this is being handled, I’ll go as far as to say this is being handled horribly.

My first and biggest issue is the release date of both titles. As it stands Unity is due to come out in late October and Rogue is scheduled to release in mid November. I think this is the complete opposite of what the release schedule for the two games should be.

Imagine if Assassin’s Creed Rogue came out months before Unity. It would be the only new Assassin’s Creed game on the block. Fans would have to play it, even if it is last gen only. Just because it would be the only new Assassin’s Creed game. They could even position it somewhere where there were no other AAA games for it to compete against. Plus if it was good it would only get people all the more excited for Unity. Right now for example would have been a great time to release Rogue.

But no, for some reason it was decided Rogue should come out after Unity. Why should any fan care? I know I’m having a hard time caring. I’m looking forward to Unity, it seems fun and I’m buying it the day it comes out. I don’t think after playing it for 2 weeks or so I’m going to want to buy another Assassin’s Creed game. Not to mention it will by all measures be the inferior game. The last gen game coming first and somehow leading up to the bigger, better current gen game could have been great. I honestly don’t understand the reasoning behind doing the opposite.

This isn’t the first time the release date of Assassin’s Creed games has left me scratching my head either. Back in 2012 Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation was released for Vita on the same day that Assassin’s Creed III came to consoles. Liberation even came in a bundle with the Vita in an attempt to boost the struggling handheld’s sales. I don’t know how many of you remember 2012, but people were super excited for ACIII. Largely because of the American setting. Liberation shared this setting and offered people a chance to get an Assassin’s Creed III experience on the go. I thought it would serve Sony and the Vita well to get the Liberation bundle out before Assassin’s Creed III, even if it meant throwing some more money Ubisoft’s way. I’m sure someome at Sony must have thought the same thing. People would have had to buy a Vita to get a bit of an early taste of what Assassin’s Creed III would offer. Then release day came, and people largely hated ACIII. Who knows how many sales of ACIII would be lost if people could play Liberation before it and word got out how bad it was. Is the same thing happening here? Is this the reason Rogue is coming out second? Should I be worried about Unity now?