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Ex–Assassin’s Creed Director Argues AAA’s Future Lies With Smaller Teams

He says piling on staff creates noise, favoring modular co-development under clear constraints.

Overview

  • Now a senior vice president at FunPlus, Alexandre Amancio contends that large AAA teams are counterproductive and that lean core groups are more effective.
  • He argues that adding headcount to troubled projects stagnates productive contributors and introduces "variable noise."
  • As a model, he proposes assigning self-contained features to co-development partners, citing Assassin's Creed IV's naval gameplay as a delegable system.
  • He maintains that firm constraints—financial, technical, or deliberate—drive better creative decisions in big-budget development.
  • Ubisoft has not announced the next Assassin’s Creed release, with industry reports pointing to several projects, including a rumored Black Flag remake called Resynced, mobile title Jade, Codename Hexe, and a possible multiplayer game dubbed Invictus, as Netflix’s series continues casting.