Seven months after launching, Assassin's Creed Valhalla continues to be a massive success for Ubisoft. Not only did Valhalla break the series sales record, but the game continues to have a long lifespan ahead of it thanks to continued support from Ubisoft. At E3 2021, a second year of content was announced which will follow in the footsteps of the Wrath of the Druids DLC as well as the upcoming Siege of Paris expansion.
The development cycle for Assassin's Creed Valhalla wasn't a normal one for many reasons. The development saw a few high profile members of the team depart both on their own accord and those who were forced out, with the most high profile being former creative director Ashraf Ismail who was fired after reported sexual misconduct charges appeared online. On a completely different note, narrative director Darby McDevitt announced he was leaving Ubisoft after a decade to join with iLLOGIKA months after the launch and success of the game.
Changes are again afoot for the popular series as Assassin's Creed Valhalla game director Eric Baptizat has left Ubisoft to join Electronic Arts. Baptizat has been at Ubisoft for 16 years, having a helping hand in some of the most popular Assassin's Creed games in the franchise including Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. In addition, Baptizat held a senior role with Assassin's Creed Origins, a soft reboot of the series which added in the RPG mechanics found in recent titles.
Interestingly enough, neither Baptizat or EA has commented publicly on the move which was apparently completed as far back as April. Baptizat now joins EA Motive, a studio that has been in the press for a few weeks now thanks to a rumored unannounced project it is working on. If the rumors prove true, Baptizat's experience with third person action games should be incredibly valuable.
With EA Play 2021 taking place next month, rumors have begun swirling that the Star Wars Squadrons studio has inherited an established and fan-favorite IP. While EA isn't saying what it is, fans have been convinced that the revival project is for Dead Space, a popular sci-fi horror series that the former studio Visceral created, though hasn't been seen in a number of years. Reports indicate that the Dead Space revival is more of a reimaging rather than a direct sequel. Either way, fans are hoping to get a glimpse at the new EA Motive project next month at EA Play.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available for Amazon Luna, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Axios