Assassin's Creed Franchise Boss Departs Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed franchise brag Marc-Alexis Côté has departed Ubisoft aft a vocation spanning much than 20 years, IGN understands.

The quality comes conscionable 2 weeks aft Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft's biggest brand, became operated by Vantage Studios, the abstracted concern entity formed by Ubisoft with a 25% involvement from Chinese elephantine Tencent that volition besides present oversee each aboriginal Far Cry and Rainbow Six games.

Ubisoft unit were informed of the quality this day via an interior email which simultaneously discussed the request for Vantage Studios' enactment squad to beryllium "aligned" with its halfway goals, portion wishing Côté good for the future. IGN understands that Côté was offered a relation arsenic portion of Vantage Studios' leadership, but declined.

In an interior enactment to Ubisoft unit obtained by IGN, Vantage Studios co-CEO Christophe Derennes said helium was "disappointed" by Côté's decision, and that the erstwhile person "had his ain expectations and priorities related to Vantage Studios’ instauration and future."

"Following the organizational restructuring announced successful March 2025, Marc-Alexis Côté has chosen to prosecute a caller way elsewhere extracurricular of Ubisoft," a Ubisoft spokesperson told IGN today. "While we are saddened to spot him go, we’re assured that our talented teams volition transportation guardant the beardown instauration helium helped build.

"We are profoundly grateful for the interaction Marc-Alexis has had implicit the years, peculiarly successful shaping the Assassin’s Creed marque into what it is today. His leadership, creativity, and dedication person near a lasting people connected our teams and our players. We convey him sincerely for his galore contributions and privation him continued occurrence successful each his aboriginal endeavors."

Côté, known to colleagues by his initials arsenic "Mac", joined Ubisoft successful 2005 arsenic a bundle engineer, earlier moving arsenic a pb motor programmer connected Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. From there, helium joined the Assassin's Creed bid successful clip for Brotherhood, moving arsenic a pb level designer, earlier serving arsenic a crippled manager connected Assassin's Creed 3.

As originative director, Côté led improvement connected a drawstring of projects built astatine Ubisoft Quebec, the talented squad which made Assassin's Creed: Black Flag DLC Freedom Cry, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and past Assassin's Creed Odyssey, for which helium served arsenic elder producer.

In March 2022, arsenic Quebec worked connected Assassin's Creed Shadows and Ubisoft sought to relaunch the bid with a much accordant communicative absorption via the Animus Hub (then referred to arsenic Assassin's Creed Infinity), it was Côté that took the reigns connected the full franchise, laying retired a Marvel-style slate of upcoming projects that included the forthcoming Assassin's Creed Hexe, which inactive lacks a merchandise date.

And past past December, amid a firestorm of sermon surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows' Black samurai protagonist Yasuke, it was Côté who defended the relation of the series' storytelling during an impassioned BAFTA speech. Côté said the online backlash to the crippled had been "devastating" to his colleagues, and defended the game's high-profile hold arsenic indispensable to present connected the prime fans' expected.

"Assassin's Creed has ever been astir exploring the afloat spectrum of quality history, and by its precise nature, that past is diverse. Staying existent to past means embracing the richness of quality perspectives - without compromise," Côté said past year.

Today's quality comes conscionable days aft a study revealed that Ubisoft canceled an Assassin's Creed crippled acceptable successful the post-Civil War play that featured a erstwhile Black enslaved arsenic its protagonist, who would person been shown warring the Ku Klux Klan. The task had been successful its archetypal stages erstwhile it was ditched successful the summertime of 2024 owed to concerns surrounding the US governmental climate, though immoderate aboriginal enactment had been undertaken astatine Ubisoft Quebec.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social