Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets: “I have two or three games left

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Listen now on Apple, Spotify or YouTubeIn This Gamescom Edition,Patrice Désilets plots more 1666 and Ancestors gamesRaccoon Logic takes on hockeyCD Projekt talks physical gamesPlus, a complete Gamescom news round-upGuten tag!We’re over in Germany for Gamescom, and what a fantastic show. I always feel energized (despite the lack of sleep) speaking to brilliant people, seeing their games, and discussing where it’s all headed. And it’s been a packed few days.This week, we interviewed Patrice Désilets, the creator of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. He’s just launched a brand-new game called 1666: Amsterdam, and we caught up with him to talk about Early Access, self-publishing, and why he’s desperate to start making more games.We also caught up with another Assassin’s Creed creative director in the form of Alex Hutchinson (a coincidence) and his business partner, Reid Schneider.

Their studio, Raccoon Logic, just announced a new hockey game for Early Access (also a coincidence). And we caught up with them about moving away from the old ways of releasing games.And finally, we’ve got a little sneak peek of our upcoming big interview with CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał NowakowskiLet’s get on with it!Patrice Désilets is planning more 1666 and Ancestors, but how?Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets wants to work on multiple projects at once, or else he might only have “two or three games left.”The 52-year-old game developer, who leads his own studio Panache, has just released 1666: Amsterdam, which is an Assassin’s Creed-style action adventure game.

And Désilets hopes he can make multiple 1666 titles set in different locations.“The real IP or license is 1666,” Désilets said on today’s episode of The Game Business Show. “Amsterdam is at least the first game, and then we can go elsewhere.”Desilet’s previous game was 2019’s Ancestors: A Humankind Odyssey, an ambitious open world survival game where players control a primate clan through various stages of human evolution. It was a unique title that found a dedicated audience and has sold 2.5 million copies. The IP is owned by publisher Fictions and Desilet hints that there is more to come from that series, too.“I love Ancestors, and I love the community around it,” Désilets told us.

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“There’ll be some surprises coming. You got it first! I’m not finished with Ancestors, that’s for sure. We finished Ancestors at two million years, so there’s still two million years to develop.”Désilets’ ambitions run into the reality of time. It was seven years between Ancestors and 1666. If that cadence continues then, at 52, he might only have “two or three games” left.However, he believes that he can make future 1666 titles faster than the first one, and that with the improvement in technology, he may also be able to work on multiple projects at once.

“Maybe [we can do] more than one game at a time because of the toolset we’ve built,” he said. “We’ll see.”1666: Amsterdam launched into Early Access during Gamescom, and marks Panache’s first attempt at self-publishing.“It’s nerve-wracking a little bit,” he admitted. “But at the same time, I think we have enough experience to do it. We have help with the selling and marketing of the game. I think it was time for Panache to self-publish.”He continued: “We’re totally prepared [for Early Access]. It was the vision for Panache from the get-go. I wanted to be designing and making the game with the people.

With Ancestors, we couldn’t do it, but we already have an iterative process. Now we’re including the people who are playing it in that process.”Check out the full interview with Désilets in today’s edition of The Game Business Show.Fan-first, global marketing campaignsKeywords Studios is the game industry’s end-to-end partner, with 13,000 people across 26 countries helping studios build, launch and support games at global scale. Supercharged by technology and shaped by long-term partnership, Keywords Studios connects specialist expertise around the player experience.For the fans, that means marketing shaped around players, communities and culture.