Assassin's Creed won't be getting its stealth spin-off for a while yet

techradar.com:

Ubisoft has reportedly pushed back the release of Assassin’s Creed Rift, the next stealth-oriented installment in the time-hopping action series.

The publisher announced Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and a “smaller unannounced premium game” have been delayed during its latest quarterly earnings report(opens in new tab). Both games are now expected to release sometime during the company’s next fiscal year beginning April 2023.

A follow-up report by Bloomberg(opens in new tab) suggests that the unnamed premium game is, in fact, the next Assassin’s Creed title. Ubisoft has reportedly pushed back the release of Rift from February next year to sometime between May and June. According to Bloomberg, someone familiar with the game said its development is “running far behind schedule”.

We can expect to hear more details this September when Ubisoft says(opens in new tab) it will reveal «the future of Assassin's Creed». As of now, we’ve only heard rumors that Rift will place a greater focus on stealth and return to the Middle East. 

The delay of both games is quite the blow to Ubisoft’s upcoming line-up. The last mainline entry in the Assassin’s Creed series is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which released in 2020. This latest delay means fans will be left to wait nearly three years before they can get their hands on the series’ next installment.

While chunky gaps between triple-A sequels is usually par for the course among publishers, it’s something that Ubisoft has tended to avoid. The Assassin’s Creed series broadly stuck to an annual release schedule. That Ubisoft is bucking that expectation this time around might point to the faith it's placing in Assassin’s Creed Infinity – an upcoming live-service platform that will tie together