Next Assassin's Creed game will be "much more" next-gen

The follow-up to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag--the first entry in the series for next-generation consoles--will be "much more next-gen," according to Ubisoft.

"I think 'next' next-gen is going to be for the next games," Black Flag lead designer Jean-Sebastien Decant told GameReactor. "The next games are going to be much more on the next-gen side. This one is really on the edge."

Decant explained that when Ubisoft began development on Black Flag, also released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the studio had no idea what the system specifications for the Xbox One or PS4 were going to be.

"When you start and you don't even know the specs or what they are going to do you don't think about that [next-gen consoles] or you're going to be sick," he said.

Beyond improvements to combat, stealth, and parkour, Decant suggested that new games in the Assassin's Creed series may introduce the next evolution of social features.

"I think we're going toward a gaming place where the open world will be shared with other players," he said. "More and more. Socially speaking, but also maybe multiplayer stuff. And we will have to consider the open-world much more like a platform that we could sustain for years."

A new Assassin's Creed game for 2014 has not yet been confirmed, though a core entry in the series has been released every year since 2009.