Ubisoft finally confirms the Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake is real, and it's dropping the '4' for some reason

The long-rumored, many times-leaked Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake is official. Ubisoft dropped the confirmation in an email to press laying out the future of the Assassin's Creed series, sandwiched between sparse details about a future co-op AC game and the upcoming Netflix show.

"Speculation around Assassin’s Creed is not new, but it’s worth repeating: 'Nothing is true. Everything is permitted,'" the announcement reads. "Well, except in this case, some whispers have a little more wind in their sails. Keep your spyglass on the horizon."

Attached is a piece of art from the remake, officially dubbed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced (a triple name-er), of pirate assassin Edward Kenway standing on the mast of his Jackdaw.

Sure man, let's do it. It's still a little funny that the first Assassin's Creed game getting the remake treatment is the sixth one in the series, but if you're throwing your weight behind a full-fledged do-over, you might as well start with everyone's favorite.

Black Flag was a triumphant little comeback for AC after two disappointing years in a row—Revelations in 2011 and AC3 in 2012—that layered unexpectedly fantastic open-world sailing on top of the best version of its sneaky-stabbing at the time. I never loved how it traded signature urban jungles for smaller settlements and actual jungles, but sailing the high seas with my mates while making swiss cheese of the British armada was so fun that I didn't really mind.

Ubi also just clearly has a soft spot for its pirate game—it's no coincidence that the director of the original Black Flag, Jean Guesden, was recently tapped to replace Clint Hocking as director of the next mainline AC on the books, Project Hexe.

Also, is it worth talking about how Ubisoft has erased the "4" from Black Flag's title? That's kinda weird. Do we think that's just some marketing-fu to avoid naming confusion, or is Ubi setting the stage for Black Flag to become a sub-series that gets its own sequels, a-la Modern Warfare?