Assassin’s Creed Shadows might be a subject of intense backlash, but the game is making a bold choice by not bending to Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5.

At State of Unreal 2022, Epic Games gave the industry Unreal Engine 5, and we entered into a new era of game development. From big names such as Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 to small titles such as Everspace 2, we’ve seen a number of developers switching to the engine.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is one of the most anticipated games. (Image via Ubisoft)

Even the upcoming Halo is going to run on Unreal Engine 5, abandoning its own in-house crafted Slipstream. However, Ubisoft isn’t your average game developer, and its upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows is using the studio’s very own game engine because it wants to control its destiny.

Unreal Engine 5 would have failed Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Unreal Engine 5 wouldn’t have benefitted Assassin’s Creed Shadows. (Image via Epic Games)

Even though Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ initial reveal didn’t go down well, Ubisoft learned its lesson and pushed back the game’s release to fix its various issues. It’s one of the most anticipated games by the studio as of now and one that could decide its future, considering all the recent failures.

While chatting with Venture Beat, Pierre Fortin, Ubisoft’s technical architect, opened up about his experience at the studio and how it allowed him to play a major role in Assassin’s Creed Shadows development. When asked why Ubisoft decided to stick with the AnvilNext engine to develop the game and not Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5, here’s what he had to say.

If you don’t control your own technology, that kind of thing is harder to do. We might not be able to give our production teams the artistic freedom that we want.

According to Fortin, Ubisoft has a different approach when it comes to optimizing game processes and technology to achieve its innovation goals. For instance, the company uses a number of studios to help with the production cycle, and to support this, it wants to use its own engine.

That’s not all; while developing Shadows, Ubisoft made it a point to add various levels of dynamism, such as characters reacting to their environment and seasonal changes. This kind of technological development and artistic freedom wouldn’t have been possible if Ubisoft relied on a third-party game engine.

Assassin’s Creed franchise has a strong lineup ahead

Assassin’s Creed franchise might be able to save Ubisoft from its demise. (Image via Ubisoft)

In the last couple of years, with game development cycles getting longer, Ubisoft’s output has fallen off the cliff, with the company so far pushing out only two mainline Assassin’s Creed games and a couple of spin-offs since the beginning of 2020s.

However, that won’t be the pattern going forward. Reports suggest that Ubisoft is planning to pump approximately ten Assassin’s Creed titles over the next five years. This roadmap is quite diverse as it’s filled with games of multiple lengths and genres.

Although some titles of the five-year lineup could end up being smaller-scale titles, such as spin-offs might have small budgets, as is going to be the case with Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade, which is an open-world mobile title taking place in ancient China.

Reports suggest that Assassin’s Creed Jade was planned to be released in 2024 but was delayed to 2025. Similar delays in the upcoming entries might happen, as we’ve seen with Assassin’s Creed Shadows because Ubisoft is trying to fix its roadmap.

With that said, are you excited for Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Let us know in the comments below.