Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Creative Director Responds to Trailer Backlash

Earlier this month, Ubisoft showed off another new look at the upcoming Vikings adventure; Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. While the cinematics were stunning, there wasn’t a lot of actual gameplay in the gameplay Xbox Series X showcase, a decision that was met with immediate backlash. Now the creative director is responding to the community’s reaction. 

Creative director Ashrah Ismail recently sat down with Launcher Live to address the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay backlash saying that the response was totally justified, though a little more patience would be appreciated. “My focus is on building the game and building this experience, and kind of setting the vision and the intensions of this experience, and that’s my primary focus. You know we have marketing teams that it’s their job to market the games. People need to…again when I say have patience with us, people need to remember we just announced the game about two weeks ago. So there’s a long road in front of us. I mean people should not at all doubt will they see a plethora of gameplay. Yes, it’s coming.”

Related: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Pre-order Bonuses, Collector’s Edition Guide

While this is true, and there are many more opportunities to showcase what the game has to offer in the future, much like they’ve done with previous releases, the label of “gameplay” is what got people so up in a tuff, not so much what was revealed itself. Ismail added, “The thing that I think most people don’t realize let’s say from a development standpoint is there is a need to pace that out, because at some point the team needs to be focused on building the game and focused on that, and that’s where my energy goes and my team’s energy goes is into building that game and making sure we can reach moments where we can say ‘hey, you know what, we’re going to take a chunk of that game and show it to people’, whether it’s to be able to see a trailer or to be able to even have that hands-on with it.”

He added that they need to focus on continued development first and foremost while the marketing teams continue to push on their side to show fans what is ahead and to take in that valuable feedback moving forward. He then mentioned once more for fan patience, saying that there will be much more revealed in the coming months and that the hard-working team would love a little more “patience and kindness” from the community at large. 

With the Summer Games Fest going on until August, we’re going to be getting quite a few more reveals regarding Valhalla in the coming months, including more on the combat systems, planned DLC, and what other returning fan-favorites are making a comeback. 

• Raids, customization, and more features confirmed for Valhalla
• 5 great Viking games to play while waiting for the next Assassin’s Creed
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will feature epic rap battles … no seriously, hear us out

As for the game itself, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will launch this holiday season on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Google Stadia with optimization also set for the next generation of gaming.

What do you think about the creative director’s response and the overwhelming backlash the latest trailer saw? Sound off with your thoughts over on Twitter @PrimaGames, we’d love to hear what you think! 

H/T CB