In 2025 Marc-Alexis Côté, the top of the Murderer’s Creed franchise and a 20 yr veteran of Ubisoft, abruptly left the writer following the launch of Murderer’s Creed Shadows. Three months in the past he broke his silence to assert that he didn’t depart voluntarily however was pushed out of the corporate. Now he’s suing Ubisoft for almost $1 million over what he alleges was a “constructive dismissal” after being demoted from main the writer’s greatest franchise. Radio-Canada experiences that the lawsuit was just lately filed within the Superior Court docket of Quebec and claims $1.3 million Canadian {dollars} in damages, or roughly $935,000. In it, Côté particulars the occasions main as much as his departure from the corporate, together with a gathering in the summertime of 2025 when it apparently grew to become clear that he would now not stay answerable for Murderer’s Creed, the franchise he had led sine a 2022 technique reboot outlined its formidable future.
Final yr, Ubisoft launched a subsidiary referred to as Vantage Studios backed by $1.25 billion in funding from Tencent that might home the writer’s most worthwhile franchises: Rainbow Six Siege, Far Cry, and Murderer’s Creed. It’s led by North American studios head Christophe Derennes and CEO Yves Guillemot’s son, Charlie Guillemot. Previous to the transfer, Côté reported on to Yves Guillemot.
An Murderer’s Creed veteran allegedly demoted However underneath this new mannequin, Ubisoft was trying to rent a Head of Franchise that might oversee all of its main IP, together with Murderer’s Creed, successfully demoting Côté, in keeping with his lawsuit. The brand new place would additionally solely be positioned in France, which means Côté wouldn’t be eligible until he was keen to relocate his life throughout the Atlantic.
The veteran developer was reportedly provided a brand new place of franchise manufacturing head or an ambiguous position main a “Inventive Home” overseeing a separate, lesser franchise inside the firm’s portfolio. When he declined and requested his severance for successfully dropping his place in October, he alleges that Ubisoft took the shock step of each internally and publicly asserting his “voluntary” departure the subsequent day.
“The previous 24 hours have been deeply emotional,” he wrote on LinkedIn on the time. “A lot of you may have expressed shock that I’d select to go away Murderer’s Creed after so a few years, particularly given the fervour I nonetheless maintain for it. The reality is straightforward: I didn’t make that alternative.” Côté is now asking the Quebec court docket not just for damages and his severance, however to be launched from a non-compete clause that limits the roles he can take elsewhere within the online game business.
Longer dev cycles, fewer video games The lawsuit comes on the eve of Murderer’s Creed Shadows‘ one-year anniversary, the final sport within the franchise to ship with Côté, who has been engaged on the historic motion sequence since 2010’s Murderer’s Creed: Brotherhood, on the helm. That sport was initially supposed to return out in 2024 however was delayed to offer further improvement time after already marking the longest lull ever between new releases within the sequence.
“We’re additionally shifting our improvement mannequin to make it extra sustainable for our groups, as beforehand we used to common about three years for every improvement cycle on Murderer’s Creed,” Côté introduced again in 2022. “So we’re shifting to longer dev cycles to make them extra sustainable from a human and technological standpoint, in order that we are able to really construct on the shoulders of each other after which help our video games for an extended time frame.” He mentioned the franchise would evolve alongside two separate tracks, with Shadows representing the continued evolution of the open-world RPG components that started with Murderer’s Creed Origins and the subsequent entry, Murderer’s Creed Hexe directed by Clint Hocking, taking an strategy that might really feel “recent and totally different.” Years later, nonetheless, some initiatives just like the multiplayer spin-off Invictus and the cell “AAA” sport Jade stay MIA. A remake of Murderer’s Creed IV: Black Flag, in the meantime, is rumored to be launching within the subsequent few months. Ubisoft and Côté didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
