What game engine debuted with Assassin's Creed III?

AnvilNext debuted with Assassin's Creed III. Ubisoft introduced the engine for the 2012 game, which required large outdoor environments, naval sequences, changing weather, and crowded historical settlements.

AnvilNext evolved from Ubisoft's earlier Anvil technology, which had powered previous Assassin's Creed titles. The updated engine supported improvements in animation, lighting, environmental rendering, and world scale for the game's American Revolution setting.

The name is sometimes written as Anvil Next or AnvilNext 2.0, but AnvilNext is the engine designation associated with Assassin's Creed III. Disrupt was used for Watch Dogs, while Scimitar was an earlier Ubisoft engine related to the technology lineage.