That's clever, I guess, though it doesn't make up for the hours that people spent screaming "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" when their dramatic chase over the rooftops of Jerusalem ended in death by puddle. Still, the series would only get more defensive from there ...
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Assassin's Creed IV Shows Market Research That Deems Assassin's Creed III Nonviable
Assassin's Creed III isn't quite as beloved as its predecessors. It switched things up by taking place during the American Revolution, when the nascent country had very few tall buildings to leap from but plenty of bushes to just kind of wait around in. Also, the player character Connor is pretty boring, even for a video game protagonist.
So to spice things up, the increasingly incomprehensible present-day section of Assassin's Creed IV sees you working for a not-Ubisoft trying to make a game about the Assassin's Creed. Very meta. You can even obtain in-game market research documents which include discussions on which protagonist they need for their game, and what they say about Connor reflects criticism of III. "Researchers came away unimpressed with his calm and stoic demeanor."
III also has you playing a portion of Connor's childhood, and this didn't go down well in the real world or the game's universe: "Unfortunately, our researchers found this young man's story deeply problematic as well." They also note that, sadly, only the "more educated" members of their audience would have interest. Guys, a 6.9 user score on Metacritic isn't that bad.