Confirmed: No new Assassin's Creed this year

This is sort of like announcing that the tides have given up. The Assassin's Creed series has performed with such exhausting regularity that its absence is in itself startling. But that is the strange reality we now live in: Ubisoft has confirmed earlier rumours that there will be no new Assassin's Creed this year.

"This year, we also are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin’s Creed franchise," Ubisoft says in a blog entry. "We’re taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we’re delivering on the promise of Assassin’s Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone’s playground."

Could this mean no more bell towers? No more relieving myriad careless citizens of their treasure chests? I'm almost afraid to imagine such an unnatural scenario.