When it was confirmed that there will be no Assassin's Creed game in 2016, most assumed that the series would be taking a single year off. This may not end up being the case — and Far Cry may also be going away for longer than expected.

Speaking to IGN, Ubisoft VP of Editorial, Tommy François explained that both Assassin's Creed

"I'll tell you what," François said, "We believe Alpha for these games needs to be one year before release. We're trying to achieve that. That's super f****** blunt, I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this. This is the goal we're going for: Alpha one year before, more quality, more polish.

"So if this means biting the [bullet] and not having an Assassin's game, or a Far Cry [in 2017], f*** it."

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When questioned on the potential Alpha, François made clear that he doesn't necessarily mean a public trial (which Ubisoft recently used with For Honor), but the sense of having a very clearly created game, but with the time and willingness to make changes:

"Alpha is just saying getting stuff done, but leaving time for polish and innovation. I mean it from that perspective. We still need to have an Alpha, and we need it available as early as we possibly can, because the more time we have for this the more polish we have, the more time we can change, refine, swap systems. You just can't take shortcuts."

Previous rumours (which correctly outed that Watch Dogs 2 would be set in San Francisco and be released in 2016) have indicated that the next Assassin's Creed will be subtitled 'Empire', and will be set in ancient Egypt.

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Some have questioned whether taking a break from either franchise is to ease consumers' over-exposure from an annual release, leading to a drop in sales - something François refutes:

"No, Far Cry's only been going up in sales, so that's not true [...] We sometimes try to do too much - I'm actually super-happy. I know it's perceived like [a marketing decision], and even if it is [perceived that way], it's actually OK.

"People are allowed to perceive it like that, that it's a break in the brand and that we're doing it for that. I have no quarrels. I just want people to fall in love when people try the next iteration of one of these two brands."

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Instead, François insists that the decision is a creative one, going so far as to say that the company is experimenting with entirely new structures for Assassin's Creed, possibly breaking from the "Ubisoft open-world formula" of tower climbing and objective peppering used consistently over the last few years (and which Watch Dogs 2 will step away from):

"I do think we need to break that formula. This year we've given Far Cry and Assassin's some time to decant, innovate, and polish. The objective behind this is exactly that. You'd be surprised - there are so many prototypes of alternatives. It's always the same thing, the player is king, so we play-test it and people are just like, 'What the f***?' And we're like, 'Oh no! We just spent a year prototyping this new macrostructure for an Assassin's or other type of open world game and people are telling us it's s****.'"Which brings us right back around to those year-early Alphas — when feedback like that comes in, Ubisoft now wants to have enough room to make real changes in pursuit of something better.Speaking of Ubisoft games taking time off, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has been in the offing since 2008, but there's a chance it will be back sooner than either Assassin's Creed or Far Cry at this point.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he is pleased to announce that he is also taking at least one fully-funded year off to reinvent himself (i.e. buy one leather jacket). Follow him on Twitter