Ubisoft has detailed a multi-year, multi-game plan for its Assassin’s Creed franchise, Google is closing down the Stadia game streaming service, and Backbone One PlayStation Edition makes it easy to play console games on your iPhone.

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed plan

This year is the fifteenth anniversary of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed game franchise, and while we aren’t getting a new game this year, the publisher announced a series of games that are being made in the Assassin’s world, including Mirage, the new core game that is scheduled to be released next year.

Mirage takes the game to Baghdad during the ninth century and tells the origin story of Basim Ibn Is’haq, who is a crtical character in Valhalla, the most recent Assassin’s Creed game.

Ubisoft also detailed the games to come after Mirage. They are all codenamed for now, but Red takes the game to feudal Japan and Hexe has Clint Hocking as its creative director.

Jade is a mobile action adventure that will be free to play, and is set in China, and Infinity is something of a connecting experience, which Ubisoft envisions as a hub where players can launch individual games as well as enjoy multiplayer experiences.

And there’s the Neflix partnership, which incudes a live-action series in development and a Netflix-exclusive game set in the Assassin’s Creed world.

Google shuttering Stadia game streaming service

Stadia, the game streaming service started by Google, is officially shutting down on January 18, 2023.

Anyone with a controller and an account can continue to play games on the service until then, after which the servers will be turned off.

While subscription fees will not be recoverable, Google said in an email to customers that it plans to automatically refund any “Stadia hardware purchases (Stadia Controller, Stadia Founder’s Edition, Stadia Premiere Edition, or Play and Watch with Google TV Package) made on the Google Store, and game purchases and add-on purchases made on the Stadia Store.”

Give your iPhone better gaming controls with new PlayStation themed Backbone

It’s easier than ever to play your console games on your mobile device. But if you really want to play that shooter or role-playing adventure, you need to pair a controller to your phone and throw it in your backback.

Or you get a Backbone. The gaming peripheral maker recently released a PlayStation Edition model of its Backbone One, which is a case for your iPhone that provides the dual stick, multibutton functionality of a DualSense controller.

With PS Remote Play, you can stream games from your PS4 or PS5 console.

The controls aren’t only useful for the PlayStation games you can stream to your iPhone. They also make it more fun to play games designed for mobile as well as other games that stream to your iPhone.

The Backbone One PlayStation Edition is $140 and comes in white, with button labels that mirror those used on PlayStation controllers.

Backbone also has a model available for Android phones.