The next Assassin's Creed is already development and will release in the 2014 fiscal year, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced during an earnings call today.
According to Polygon, Guillemot said the new game will be a "major step forward" for the AC franchise, featuring a new hero and set in a new time period. That said, he did not confirm the would be "Assassin's Creed 4" or elaborate on any aspect of the game's content.
Ubisoft's 2014 fiscal year begins April 1st, 2013 and ends March 31st, 2014. The last four Assassin's Creed games have been release annually in November. While a November 2013 release would seem likely, the pair of upcoming new consoles could potentially disrupt that pattern.
To finish the game to meet this deadline, multiple development teams have been working on the game, with each group taking on specific "chapters" of the game. Guillemot explained that each team will have had "multiple years" to work on their sections, implying that the game has been in development for some time, given the release window.
In the meantime, Guillemot said that Ubisoft would release more information on the next Assassin's Ceed "very soon."