Ubisoft, known for developing popular franchises like Rabbids, Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed, has had a tumultuous past few years. Back in December 2021, reports came out of mass exodus of developers from the company and more recently, there have been calls for Ubisoft Paris employees to strike from the French union Solidaires Informatique due to poor messaging from Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot.
To add to Ubisoft’s employment woes, today Jean Guesdon, Creative Director for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Origins, announced his departure from the company. Guesdon posted a farewell message to his LinkedIn page, expressing his gratitude for his time at the company:
Hello everyone, 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. So many people met, so many skills learned and so many projects shipped.
And Assassin’s Creed, of course Assassin’s Creed… 🙂
Thank you Ubi, very very much !
Guesdon joined Ubisoft back in 2005 and worked as a production coordinator on the first Assassin’s Creed game. From there, he became a long-time contributor to the franchise, serving as a content head for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed Revelations, helping to direct the series’ long-time narrative vision, and then finally acting as Creative Director on Black Flag and Origins. According to Kotaku, Guesdon has also reportedly been Creative Director for the past five years on an unannounced Ubisoft title codenamed Renaissance, said to be a collaborative voxel-based game with shades of Minecraft.
While Guesdon’s exit from Ubisoft appears to be on good terms, the high-profile departure is just one more event in Ubisoft’s recent history to raise concern. Ubisoft has also recently announced a slew of cancellations and delays for its gaming lineup for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year, although its two major upcoming releases Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora are so far unaffected.