‘Assassin’s Creed: Origins’ director leaves Ubisoft after 17 years

Assassin’s Creed: Origins director Jean Guesdon has announced he is leaving Ubisoft after more than 17 years with the company.

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Taking to Linkedin to confirm his departure, Guesdon wrote: “2023 will start for me with the end of a bit more than 17 formidable years at Ubisoft Montreal.”

I can’t express how much I owe to this unique company,” he continued. “So many people met, so many skills learned and so many projects shipped. And Assassin’s Creed, of course Assassin’s Creed.”

He hasn’t yet revealed what his next project will be, or with who.

In recent years, Guesdon has been creative director on an “undisclosed” project at Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. According to Kotaku, the project is codenamed Renaissance, “a collaborative voxel-based game with shades of Minecraft.”

Three former Ubisoft developers with knowledge of the project told Kotaku they “considered it to be one of the more promising ones in the pipeline at the company”.

“We thank Jean for his strong creative vision, openness, ideas, and most of all, his ability to put himself ‘in the shoes’ of our players in his contributions to Ubisoft,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “We wish him well as he moves on to his next chapter.”

Ubisoft started the year by cancelling three unannounced games and delaying the highly anticipated Skull & Bones to 2024, citing “major challenges as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and long-lasting titles”.

In a financial update, Ubisoft explained it was “facing major challenges” amid “worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending”. It then confirmed the cancellation of mysterious player-versus-player game Project Q.

Alongside all that, it was also announced that Ubisoft plans to cut costs of around £176million over the next two years “through targeted restructuring, divesting some non-core assets and usual natural attrition”.

After Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillermot told staff that “the ball is in your court” to turn things around, 40 members of staff at Ubisoft’s Paris went on strike despite Guillermot apologising for how his comments were “perceived”.

In other news, Ubisoft has announced that the next season of The Division 2 has been delayed, because developers are locked out of the game.

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