Marc-Alexis Côté, the longtime executive behind several recent Assassin’s Creed games, says he did not choose to leave Ubisoft earlier this month but was asked to step aside after being offered a smaller role at the publisher’s new Vantage Studios.
In a frank LinkedIn post Côté described the last 24 hours as “deeply emotional,” and wrote that he did not decide to go. “Ubisoft decided to transfer the leadership of the Assassin’s Creed franchise to someone closer to its new organizational structure,” he said, adding that the alternate position he was offered lacked the scope and continuity of his previous work.
The change came on October 15 and surprised many, particularly after the commercial and critical success of Assassin’s Creed Shadows just months earlier. Côté said he had treated the franchise like a ship he captained and that he “stayed at my post until Ubisoft asked me to step aside,” referencing a Star Trek influence and the duty he felt to his teams.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise, along with Far Cry and Rainbow Six, now reports to Vantage Studios, a Tencent-backed subsidiary led by Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot. For background on that shift and Guillemot’s return to Ubisoft, see this coverage of Vantage Studios and this piece about the leadership changes.
Côté closed his post by saying he holds “no resentment” and that he is grateful for the people and projects he worked on. Ubisoft offered a short statement saying it was “deeply grateful” for his impact on the series and “saddened to see him go.”
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