The Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake will release in March 2026, according to the latest whispers

If Ubisoft’s rumoured Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake were an actual ghost ship, we’d be long past the point of snatching glimpses of the vessel through unnaturally dense fog at two bells during the morning watch. We’d be long past the point of spotting a spectral Jolly Roger between stormy crests, its deathshead wreathed in St. Elmo’s Fire. The damn ghost ship is square abreast of us now, the hollow-cheeked revenant of Edward Kenway dangling from the rigging.

People keep pointing at the ghost ship and screaming, but Captain Ubisoft has his eyes firmly on the horizon. “Steady as she goes, lads!” he trills, as hordes of translucent pirates pour over the rail. “Steady as she goes till some hypothetical future time when we might announce a thing, maybe!”

All of which is to say that the Black Flag remake has been subject to so much insider reporting that it surely has no choice but to be real. The project has more leaks than the Cutty Sark after a voyage through the legendary Sea of Cheesegraters. It was first teased back in July 2023, when Kotaku alleged that it was being made with help from Ubisoft Singapore, creators of Skull & Bones. Makes sense. Then a voice actor made fleeting mention of it at an expo, only for Ubisoft’s lawyers to rap his knuckles.

This September, a French publication claimed that Ubisoft Bordeaux and Ubisoft Belgrade are also involved with the project. They alleged that the remake will launch next year, and that it will dispense with the original’s modern-day Abstergo segments in favour of cut content featuring Mary Read, while bringing the inventory and combat systems in line with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Valhalla. Again, makes sense.

Now, we hear from Insider Gaming that the Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake will launch in the week of March 23rd 2026. They’re claiming that the “unannounced” project mentioned in Ubisoft’s latest, slightly delayed financials is Black Flag’s second coming.

In the same earnings report, Ubisoft noted that the Assassin’s Creed series had “exceeded expectations”, with Assassin’s Creed Mirage hitting 10 million sales, though they didn’t disclose figures for the more recent Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The publishers continue to bet big on the series, having restructured around a new Tencent-funded subsidiary dedicated to AC, Far Cry and Rainbow Six. There’s a second major Assassin’s Creed Shadows expansion in the offing; beyond that, Ubisoft are working on another multiplayer Assassin’s Creed and a purportedly Blair Witchy instalment, code-named Assassin’s Creed Hexe, with development led by Far Cry 2 dude Clint Hocking.

I feel that ghost ships and witches complement each other well. All eyes on the good Captain, who is now whistling a jovial shanty while Ghost Kenway stabs him repeatedly in the leg with a phantom cutlass.