Det vil ta mellom tre og fem timer å utforske alt innholdet som er lagt til moderne tid i Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, mener spillregissør Ashraf Ismail i Ubisofts blogg. Han poengterer samtidig at dette ikke er noen tvang, og at de som vil raskt gjennom Abstergo-labben kan gjøre dette på omtrent 20 minutter.
"In total, if you were to do everything in the present day - find everything, hack every computer, access every room - it's a solid three to five hours."
"For the main path - the stuff you're required to do - it's somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes. You leave the Animus five times during the game's main path and each time you're there for about three to four minutes."
"You don't have to like it, but it's part of the brand. For the people who like the present day and are big fans, we put in a lot of fan service and a lot of fun optional content. You get to choose if you want it or not."