Former Assassin’s Creed Boss Sues Ubisoft for $1.3M Following Alleged “Constructive Dismissal”

Back in October 2025, shortly after Ubisoft unveiled its subsidiary, Vantage Studios, a new branch formed in partnership with Tencent to house the Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry franchises, head of the Assassin's Creed series, Marc-Alexis Côté, was confirmed to be leaving the company by Ubisoft. While Ubisoft initially framed Côté's departure as his choice, saying that he declined a role within Vantage Studios and that he had "chosen to pursue a new path elsewhere outside of Ubisoft," three days later, Côté published his own statement, saying he didn't choose to leave, but that instead "Ubisoft asked me to step aside."

While Côté claimed that he held "no resentment" at the time, that statement appears to be in question after Radio-Canada reported that Côté is now suing Ubisoft for $1.3 million, accusing Ubisoft of "constructive dismissal" to avoid paying him severance.

Côté had been with Ubisoft for two decades, with the majority of that time spent working on the Assassin's Creed franchise, and the final three years of his tenure as the head of the entire series. The suit alleges that in the summer of 2025, a meeting was held to discuss a new "head of franchise" role within Vantage Studios, which Côté noticed would swallow up most of the responsibilities he had in his current position.

Côté was instead offered a "head of production" role within Vantage Studios, which would fall under the newly created "head of franchise" role, and see Côté lose most of his influence over the Assassin's Creed series and the responsibility to lead partnerships with external studios like Netflix, which is currently working on a new Assassin's Creed TV show. According to the report, in Côté's current position, he directly reported to no one save for Ubisoft's long-time boss and chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot.

After declining the head of production role, Côté was then reportedly offered a "creative house" lead, which would allow him to oversee "second-tier" Ubisoft series. With Côté seeing himself as the "guardian of the Assassin's Creed" series after having been with it for so long and having spent three years at its helm, he considered the positions offered a demotion, the kind he could not accept. As he was "disoriented, confused and affected by the anxiety-provoking situation," according to the suit, Côté took two weeks off to reflect on how to move forward.

He was reportedly told that he would have to make a decision at the end of his two weeks as to whether he would accept the role offered. At the end of the two weeks, Côté determined the role was an "unacceptable demotion," and asked to be paid severance. Ubisoft reportedly responded by telling Côté not to come to work on October 13, and the next day, on October 14, an internal email was sent to staff outlining that Côté had "chosen to pursue a new path elsewhere outside of Ubisoft," the same email that broke to the press that day.

The lawsuit alleges that Ubisoft has listed Côté's departure as a "voluntary departure" in order to avoid paying him severance. Côté is suing for two years' salary and $75,000 in moral damages, which the suit is calling "an abuse of power and harm to his reputation." The salary, along with the additional $75K is what brings the total to $1.3 million. Additionally, Côté is asking that the court lift his non-compete clause, so he can find a new role elsewhere in the video game industry.

Wccftech has reached out to Ubisoft for a comment on the situation, and we'll update this report if/when we hear back. Côté and his lawyer, Catherine Asselin Jobin, from Poudrier Bradet Avocats, have reportedly declined to make a statement on the matter, save for his lawyer saying, "Mr. Côté hopes for a negotiated, swift, and satisfactory resolution to the situation."

Though we currently only have Côté's side of the story in this matter, and we've yet to see how Ubisoft will claim the situation shook out, this is the second instance of the year already where dismissals at Ubisoft are under suspicion. At the beginning of the year, Ubisoft shuttered its Halifax studio, laying off 71 people a little less than three weeks after the majority of the branch voted to unionize under the CWA Canada.

While Ubisoft claims the studio shutdown had nothing to do with the team unionizing, and claims the decision was made well before organizational efforts at the studio began, CWA Canada has pushed back on that narrative and has filed a complaint with Nova Scotia's labour board, seeking clear evidence from Ubisoft to prove its claims. When the two sides last met, CWA Canada claimed Ubisoft had brought none of the requested evidence.

Public and legal pressure from the CWA Canada has already caused Ubisoft to consider raising the severance it plans to give the 71 fired workers, and CWA Canada continues to apply pressure to the company after it discovered that Ubisoft had been given nearly $1 billion in tax subsidies over the last five years for operating in Halifax.

It's also worth noting that Marc-Alexis Côté is the second lead of a franchise at Ubisoft to leave the company since the reveal and establishment of Vantage Studios, with The Division lead, Julian Gerighty, announcing his departure just last week. Rumours circulated in October 2025 of his departure, which Massive Entertainment denied at the time, though with Gerighty set to join Battlefield Studios, his departure doesn't appear to have the same issues that Côté alleges he had.

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