Cutting naval multiplayer from ACIV was "heartbreaking" says creative director

Cutting the naval multiplayer mode from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was "heartbreaking," creative director Ashraf Ismail said today during a PAX Prime panel.

"I lost a lot of sleep over that one," Ismail said.

He explained that Ubisoft created multiple prototypes for the game mode that were "awesome," and the scope was "really huge."

"It really broke my heart the day we decided to cut it from the game," Ismail recalled.

Though there won't be naval multiplayer in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Ismail suggested a similar game mode could be featured in an upcoming game "if [Black Flag] does really well."

During a question and answer session, Ismail was asked about the potential for a future-set Assassin's Creed game. He responded by saying he would be "shocked" if the series jumped into the future.

Explaining the decision to look back instead of forward, Ismail said Ubisoft's mantra for the series is "history is our playground."

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag launches October 29 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. The Xbox One and PS4 versions will be launch titles for those platforms, while the PC version will be released sometime after the current-generation iterations.

For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.