Ubisoft appears to not be retaining some of its top Assassin's Creed talent. Raphael Lacoste, the art director behind eight Assassin's Creed titles and Prince of Persia, has announced his departure from the company via Twitter.
As reported by Axios, we saw developers leaving Ubisoft Montreal earlier this month, but the company responded the departures were "in line with video game industry averages," and that it continued to "attract, retain, and foster" other talent. Back in March, we saw narrative director Darby McDevitt also leave the company. He had been with Ubisoft since 2009.
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Lacoste's career saw him involved with most of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed titles, including his most recent work on Valhalla. Lacoste himself described his departure as an emotional one, but he's looking for new adventures with the change.
However, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier paints a different picture of the state of Ubisoft at the moment. Schreier noted that problems surrounding pay, work from home, and Ubisoft's CEO are also to blame for the sudden exodus.
Last year, we saw Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot address the ongoing allegations of internal misconduct, and Guillemot was later questioned by investors about how much he knew before regarding the scandal.
In May, things at Ubisoft began to unravel again as Guillemot denied in an open letter the report that Ubisoft had not mended its toxic company culture. After his rebuttal, the two Owlient studio managers both left Ubisoft to "pursue new opportunities."
While Ubisoft continues to report departures, some of its games are also missing release windows. While it's been a long time since the company has had much to show, Ubisoft insists that Skull & Bones is still on the way. Adding to the list, Rainbow Six Extraction and Riders Republic both saw delays, with the former being pushed into 2022.
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