Ubisoft has already confirmed that a new Anno is coming. An approved grant now reveals (a little) more about the next installment in the series.
The fact that a new part of the Anno series is in development should come as little surprise not only to connoisseurs of the series and was already well hidden on the part of Ubisoft in December (in a blog entry) confirmed. Until there is more solid information about the game, there is still a lot of water flowing down the Rhine. However, there is now another very concrete sign of life that the development is slowly picking up speed: An approved grant from the state for a new Ubisoft project.
Who gets what from whom for what? Ubisoft receives around 5.7 million euros from the federal government’s games funding. There is no real title for the funded project, but its description points to a new part of the Anno series. Another Settlers project would also have an outside chance, but that seems unlikely to us in view of the recent failure of the series.
The trail of money: from Berlin to the West of the Republic
Our colleagues at GamesWirtschaft have dug up the following entry in a document from the website of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, which is responsible for funding:
Today: How do I announce a new Anno without announcing a new Anno? ubisoft mainzbleibtmainz pic.twitter.com/bG47JnDyB3
– GamesWirtschaft (@gameswirtschaft) August 30, 2023
Unique terms describe an Anno: We’ll just name a few words here that show you why we and other trade media assume a new Anno:
- Ubisoft-Blue-Byte in Düsseldorf: The location of the recipient of the money names the headquarters of the company. Therefore it doesn’t matter that Anno is being developed at the second location in Mainz. The money flows to Blue Byte.
- proven and popular game principle
- facetted game world that invites exploration and can be expanded and rebuilt.
- Solo campaign and flexible multiplayer modes
The amount of funding represents a new record in German games funding and also speaks for the fact that this is a full-fledged series installment and not merely a smaller spin-off.
When is the new Anno coming? Your crystal ball is exactly as clear or rather as foggy as ours. We don’t know. And also the term until the end of 2025 mentioned in the entry has little relevance for a release. It’s more about bureaucratic issues.
Why does Ubisoft get money at all? This is not an easy question, but we approach a possible answer by looking at The big picture
Funding and subsidies exist all over the world, and so they have also played a role in Germany for a long time, apart from the support of smaller developers, even for large companies. Anno 1800 has also been subsidised.
After an Anno, it’s mostly just goodbye until the next Anno endless round. We don’t really say goodbye to the series either, but in the video above we look back on the most extensive part of the traditional series together with the construction expert Writing Bull.
What do you think? Is it okay and only right that Ubisoft receives such large sums of money or should large projects per se be excluded so that only smaller teams benefit? And the classic Anno question: What do you hope for from a new part? What setting would you like to see? How do you craft the cross sum nine? Feel free to write us your thoughts in the comments!
Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that there was no official announcement of a new Anno yet, although Ubisoft already confirmed it in a blog entry at the end of 2022. We have corrected the article accordingly and thank our colleague Writing Bull for pointing it out.
