Ten years ago Alex Hutchinson walked into Torus Games in Melbourne with little idea of what he was doing. Today he is the creative director of Ubisoft Montreal and Assassin’s Creed III. This is the story of how one man learned to make games in Melbourne, mastered it at Maxis, and is now steering a behemoth in Montreal.
The doors close, the lights dim, and as the television screens light up the room goes silent. To the left of the audience is a table with trays of cupcakes decorated with an 18th-century American flag; to the right stands the creative director of Assassin’s Creed III, discreet, not drawing any attention to himself. At the front of the room is the first Assassin’s Creed III gameplay footage to ever be shown outside of Ubisoft. The director is nervous, the audience is focused, the cupcakes are delicious.
Ubisoft won’t even wait a full year to release the next Assassin’s Creed, because the next one, Assassin’s Creed III, will be out on October 30. The company announced that today during a call with investors, bumping the AC series up from its traditional November release.
Ubisoft is considering cooperative online multiplayer, a crafting system for bombs, and improved Eagle Vision in the next Assassin’s Creed sequel, according to a U.K. marketing survey currently being taken.
