Marc-Alexis Côté, the former head of the Assassin's Creed series at Ubisoft has clarified a key detail of his sudden departure from Ubisoft. Earlier this week, we learned through an IGN report (which Wccftech independently verified), that Marc-Alexis Côté had left Ubisoft after 20 years with the company, 16 of them working on the Assassin's Creed franchise, and his final three as head of the entire franchise.
Côté's departure was framed as a result of the restructuring caused by Ubisoft's new subsidiary, Vantage Studios, a branch opened to house the Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry brands that Ubisoft established in collaboration with Tencent. A Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed to Wccftech by email that Côté "was offered various leadership roles [within Vantage Studios] but respectfully declined," and refused to speak further about the roles in question.
According to Côté, in a post on his personal LinkedIn account, that's not how things shook out.
"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," Côté writes.
"Ubisoft decided to transfer the leadership of the Assassin's Creed franchise to someone closer to its new organizational structure. A different position was mentioned, but it did not carry the same scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years."
"I want to be clear that I hold no resentment. Ubisoft has been my home for all my professional life, and I will always be grateful for the people, the projects, and the belief that together we could create worlds that inspire millions. But I also owe it to my teams, past and present, to say this plainly: I did not walk away. I stayed at my post until Ubisoft asked me to step aside."
So, while Ubisoft's version of events can still be technically true in that there was a potential role for Côté within Vantage Studios that he said no to, we now know that Ubisoft did not really give Côté a choice in the matter, and it almost seems like their preference was to lose a stalwart of the series, someone who had been through key periods of the franchise in lead creative roles, and who knew the franchise so intimately he could be at the helm of everything to do with Assassin's Creed, than to keep him.
It cannot be overstated that Côté's loss is a big one for Ubisoft, since veterans like him can be essential to keeping a long-running franchise alive and well, not just for their own leadership capabilities but also for their ability to mentor the next generation. Pushing out one of the people most knowledgeable about Assassin's Creed at Ubisoft is not necessarily a great start for Vantage Studios.
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how the Vantage Studios co-leads, Charlie Guillemot, the son of Ubisoft's chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot, and Christophe Derennes, carry the series forward.
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