Ubisoft's long-running Assassin's Creed franchise shows little to no signs of slowing down. The most recent iteration of the series, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, is the best performing title of the franchise in history. Yet the success of the title doesn't necessarily mean that long-standing employees, such as narrative designers, at Ubisoft are resting on their laurels.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Narrative Director Darby McDevitt has announced today that he is leaving his station at Ubisoft Montreal after a decade with the studio. Darby McDevitt is a senior script writer responsible for a plethora of narratives across the Assassin's Creed universe, ranging from Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery to lead writer for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Darby was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in 2014 and won a Canadian Video Game Award for Best Writing in 2013 for works in Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. The sudden announcement of his departure on Twitter has led to rampant speculation.
Prior to working with Ubisoft on games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, McDevitt worked with EA. The 2003 console title The Sims Bustin' Out from Electronic Arts saw Darby working with long-standing writer Sean Baity up until The Sims 2 released for the Nintendo DS. Shortly after the successful release of The Sims 2, Darby McDevitt shifted over to Ubisoft to begin honing his craft with the Assassin's Creed franchise, beginning with Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines. The absence of the writer could very well signify another incoming paradigm shift in the Assassin's Creed franchise.
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise, fans have noted, has somewhat strayed from the works of assassination into a world of historical fiction. Whereas prior titles focused on the world of assassination, finding targets and removing them to weaken a shadowy organization, the modern titles readily embrace the open-world opportunities with assassination taking more of a backseat. This isn't necessarily a deterrent, however: the world of Assassin's Creed continues to offer rich dialogue and impeccable environments to become lost in.
What is known is that Darby McDevitt has been a narrative designer for Ubisoft for the past decade, winning multiple accolades during his tenure while growing the franchise in lore exponentially with each title released. Rumors of the next Assassin's Creed title abound, currently believed to release sometime in 2022: while Ubisoft has not confirmed any of the rumors, it's safe to state that the franchise will continue in the absence of the award-winning narrative designer.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.