Assassin Creed Fans Fear Uncertainty As Major Shake-Up Announced

The future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise is looking uncertain after one major Ubisoft boss leaves the company after two decades.

It has been revealed that Assassin’s Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Cote has left Ubisoft after first joining the company back in 2005.

Kicking off his career as a software engineer, Cote soon joined the Assassin’s Creed team as a lead level designer for Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood which is widely regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise.

Following the success of Brotherhood, Cote turned his attention to Assassin’s Creed 3 as game director and reprised the same role for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Last but not least, he took on an executive role during the development of the most recent entry, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and even planned out the future of the entire franchise.

With Cote working on some of the best entries in the long-running series, it is disheartening to hear of his departure and also begs the question as to how this will affect the Assassin’s Creed franchise as a whole.

A report by IGN reveals that Cote’s employees found out about his departure via email.

Not only that but he was reportedly offered a leadership role at Vantage Studios which he denied, leading to Vantage Studios co-CEO Christophe Derennes expressing his disappointment.

Although it has not been confirmed by Cote himself why he has departed Ubisoft, it seems to be as a result of the Assassin’s Creed franchise handing over control to Vantage Studios, a new sub-studio of Ubisoft with a 25% stake from Tencent.

As for Assassin’s Creed's future, it is looking uncertain and the next reported entry, Assassin’s Creed Hexe, may be affected by Cote’s departure.

Not much is known about Hexe other than that it is rumoured to be set in Central Europe during the 16th century Holy Roman Empire.

Focusing around the witch hunts that took place, it is believed that the plot will be revenge-driven after the protagonist’s mother is murdered but this has not been confirmed by Ubisoft and so should be taken with a grain of salt.

In good news, Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s upcoming DLC Village of Memory will most likely not be affected as it is already set to be released on 18 November and so will pretty much have wrapped up development.

It is a shame to see Cote leave after making such an impact on the Assassin’s Creed franchise but let us hope the beloved series doesn’t lose its magic as a result.