Former Assassin’s Creed boss says Ubisoft asked him to ‘step aside’

Over the past few months, Ubisoft and Tencent have been forming a new subsidiary, splitting off key franchises like Assassin's Creed and handing them off to the newly formed Vantage Studios. With the launch of Vantage Studios happening recently, Ubisoft made it clear that one long-time franchise leader, Marc-Alexis Côté, would no longer be working with the company. At the time, Ubisoft stated that Côté opted to leave, but he is now claiming otherwise.

Marc-Alexis Côté had worked at Ubisoft for over two decades, working on the Prince of Persia before moving on to Assassin's Creed, where he has served as the franchise boss for years. With the shuffling of Ubisoft and the new subsidiary, Vantage Studios, forming, Ubisoft has let go of a number of executives and moved others to new posts. Ubisoft claimed that they offered Côté a leadership position at Vantage Studios but he turned it down. Now, Côté has said via LinkedIn that he was actually “asked to step aside”.

“From the messages of colleagues, friends, and fans, a recurring theme has emerged that I feel the need to clarify. Many of you have expressed surprise that I would choose to leave Assassin’s Creed after so many years, especially given the passion I still hold for it. The truth is simple: I did not make that choice. Ubisoft decided to transfer the leadership of the Assassin’s Creed franchise to someone closer to its new organizational structure.”

Côté adds that Ubisoft did offer him a position at Vantage Studios but explained that it “did not carry the same scope, mandate or continuity of work” as his previous role.

While things may not have ended 100% amicably, Côté says that he holds “no resentment” towards Ubisoft.

Development of Assassin's Creed games is expected to continue as usual, even with things moving over to Vantage Studios. This new subsidiary will also oversee development of other key franchises like Far Cry.

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KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see what direction Assassin's Creed goes in next. Personally, I'd like to see Assassin's Creed go smaller in scope, rather than continuing to rely on these overly bloated open worlds.

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