Ubisoft: New Assassin’s Creed, Shifting Focus to 360/PS3

The next Assassin’s Creed game will feature online multiplayer and be available by March 2011, Ubisoft said Wednesday.

In a press release detailing the company’s earnings projections, the publisher said that “a new episode” in the series (the numeral III was not used) will be released in the next fiscal year, which runs until March. Other big titles during the 2010-2011 window include Rayman Raving Rabbids 4, Driver, Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and the recently delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction.

In general, Ubisoft said it would release more games for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the upcoming fiscal year, saying that the consoles promise “sustained sales growth in games for gamers.”

Meanwhile, about games not for gamers — that is, casual titles — Ubi said that it would release fewer Nintendo DS games due to slowing sales on the handheld. Ubi said that it expects its casual game sales to be down 50% for the current year — although it pointed out that this is in spite of the fact that sales of casual games on Wii, particularly its new game Just Dance, have been “relatively robust.”