Restructuring: Lead developer of the "Assassin's Creed" series leaves Ubisoft
Marc-Alexis Côté has led the development of the "Assassin's Creed" series for years. Following Ubisoft's restructuring, he was apparently pushed out.
(Image: Ubisoft)
Ubisoft's spin-off of the “Assassin's Creed” series into a new subsidiary has personnel consequences: Marc-Alexis Côté, the lead developer of the assassin saga, has left the company. Côté confirmed corresponding media reports in a LinkedIn post.
However, the departure was not as voluntary as the internal memo published by Videogameschronicle by Charlie Guillemot and Christophe Derennes, the two CEOs of the new Ubisoft subsidiary Vantage, suggested: Guillemot and Derennes wrote that Côté had actively decided against a leadership role at Vantage. Côté writes on LinkedIn that the leadership role offered to him did not encompass the previous scope or tasks and was not to his liking.
Ubisoft has decided to assign another person to the development of the lucrative “Assassin's Creed” series who is “closer to the new organizational structure.” It is unclear who will lead the series in the future. According to Videogameschronicle, Côté had been working as Director for the series since “Assassin's Creed 3” and led the “Assassin's Creed” teams worldwide since 2022.
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Vantage Studios
Since the beginning of October, Ubisoft's biggest game brands have been managed by a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios. The “creative house,” as Ubisoft itself calls it, is responsible for “Assassin's Creed,” “Far Cry,” and “Rainbow Six.” Charlie Guillemot, who leads the company alongside Christophe Derennes, is the son of Ubisoft founder and CEO Yves Guillemot. The restructuring is accompanied by fresh investments from Tencent. The Chinese tech giant is investing 1.16 billion euros in the new business unit, representing a stake of around 25 percent. The subsidiary is valued at over 4 billion euros.
The “Assassin's Creed” series recently made headlines with the announcement of an expansion for “Assassin's Creed Mirage.” The free DLC package called “Valley of Memory” allows players to explore the city of Al-Ula, which is located in Saudi Arabia today. According to a report by the French newspaper Les Echos, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is said to be involved in the development of the DLC. Ubisoft has never officially confirmed this involvement but has not explicitly denied it either. Company CEO Yves Guillemot announced the DLC at an event in Riyadh.
(dahe)
