“They got away with it.” That’s how Assassin’s Creed 3 director Alex Hutchinson described Ubisoft’s internal push to artificially extend the game’s length. The goal wasn’t player engagement—it was stopping people from quickly reselling the game, especially at GameStop.

Game length has long been a hot topic, particularly among Assassin’s Creed fans, who often prefer focused, story-driven experiences over massive, filler-heavy titles. In recent years, fatigue has grown around overly long games. And looking back, Ubisoft pressured its developers to extend Assassin’s Creed 3—not for quality, but to slow the second-hand market.

Alex Hutchinson told Gamesradar that the team was under “a lot of pressure” to “add hours” and pad the game with RPG mechanics to keep players busy longer. “GameStop was the only one making money from used copies,” he explained. Ubisoft’s plan was to “keep the disc in the case” as long as possible to delay resale.

Padding the Runtime With RPG Features

According to Hutchinson, action-adventure games are “notoriously expensive per hour of play”, so the cheapest way to boost length was through leveling, gear, stats, and loot systems. While Hutchinson left Ubisoft in 2017, he said the franchise’s sharp shift toward RPG mechanics still surprises him, even if it helped attract a wider audience.

“I think it’s the only franchise I know that changed genres and kept its audience. It was risky, but it seems to have worked,” he said. “I was worried that after playing 200 hours of Assassin’s Creed, people wouldn’t want more a year later. Fortunately, the radical change in setting and character helps keep it fresh. But my heart’s in action-adventure, not stat manipulation—I miss the old days.”

Despite the shift, recent entries like Assassin’s Creed Shadows have drawn more than 5 million players, but fans continue to call for simpler, stealth-focused experiences like Mirage.

Ubisoft padded out Assassin’s Creed 3 not to enhance gameplay, but to slow trade-ins. Its RPG systems weren’t about depth—they were a commercial tactic. Even today, players still long for the tighter, stealthier roots of the franchise.

Source: 3djuegos