I'll take the bait and expound upon my former opinions a bit. I like Ubisoft just fine. The problem I see is, they're not entirely dissimilar from EA, Activision, etc. They're a business before being a creative force. Yes, I know the goal of making a product is making money, but there's a love for the craft that's only visibly evident every four or five games in a machine that churns out annual releases.
Ubi will do the following, with very little variation:
-Develop a new IP through a fluke that outgrew it's place as a spin off to another larger franchise.
-Get some cult following for that title
-Make a sequel that addresses the shortcomings of the first title.
-Sell gangbusters
-Fear innovation, and continue making the exact same game with the exact same mechanics, with a different setting.
-Create or use a new engine when the gens switch or when the old one just becomes top underpowered.
-continue the cycle over again.
Assassin's Creed 2, Black Flag, and Origins were the absolute highlights of AC, because they took a familiar formula, all the elements that MADE Assassin's Creed, and spun them into something fresh, with a world and story and characters and art design that you could TELL was a passion project. It's like a Zelda game. Every Zelda game is different, but you can tell it's a Zelda game without having to have the exact same controls, interface, gameplay loop and items.