Ubisoft made waves when they announced that Watch Dogs, which was originally scheduled to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November, would be delayed until 2014 along with the other new IP The Crew. While Ubisoft explained the delay, now Ubisoft North American president Laurent Detoc has clarified that any game that does not meet the company's standards could be delayed, including Assassin's Creed.

According to IGN, Detoc stated that protecting the Assassin's Creed brand is more important than sticking to a yearly schedule, so if the constantly evolving series needs extra time to meet Ubisoft's standards the company would allow the delay:

"If we think we've ended up with a 70 percent Assassin's Creed game, we're not going to ship it...That damages the brand. I'm not going to give you the names of products, because you know them as well as I do, but if you start to make games at 70 percent, even with a big brand, eventually people are going to change their mind about that brand. They won't want it anymore. That's what saves the recurrence. There are 30 million people or so who have been playing Grand Theft Auto. Last year, to pick a round number, we had about 10 million people playing Assassin's Creed. When we come up with an Assassin's Creed the next year, there's another 10 million brand new people who might be interested in the new setting, because of the new history, or the new naval battles and the pirates. It's a variation on gameplay from even last year."

Ubisoft actually has a history of delaying games to polish them up before they are available for fans. Far Cry 3, Rayman Legends, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Watch Dogs, South Park and The Crew were all delayed. Detoc also explained why these games are more likely to be delayed than games in the Assassin's Creed or Just Dance series:

"I like to think that we don't delay everything...It's the reason for the delay that really matters. It's a lot easier to predict the release of an Assassin's Creed, because we understand what it takes. It's a lot easier to predict a franchise that has more recurrence, for sure, than a new IP."
Look out for more Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs news right here.