The director of Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Jean Gesdon, has announced that he is leaving Ubisoft after more than 17 years at the company.
Taking to Linkedin to confirm his departure, Gesdon wrote: “2023 will begin for me with the end of just over 17 outstanding years at Ubisoft Montreal.”
I cannot express how much I owe to this unique company,” he continued. “So many people have met, so many skills have been acquired and so many projects have been implemented. And Assassin’s Creed, of course Assassin’s Creed.”
He has not yet announced what his next project will be and with whom.
In recent years, Gesdon has been the creative director of Ubisoft’s “undisclosed” project for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. According to Kotaku, the project is codenamed Renaissance, “a collaborative voxel game with shades of Minecraft.”
Three former Ubisoft developers familiar with the project told Kotaku that they “consider it one of the most promising in development in the company.”
“We thank Jean for his strong creative vision, openness, ideas and, above all, his ability to put himself in the place of our players in his contribution to Ubisoft,” a company representative said in a statement. “We wish him all the best as he moves on to his next chapter.”
Ubisoft started the year with the cancellation of three unannounced games and the postponement of the long-awaited Skull & Bones for 2024, citing “serious problems as the industry continues to move towards megabrends and long-playing games.”
In its financial report, Ubisoft explained that it was “facing serious challenges” amid “deteriorating economic conditions affecting consumer spending.” Then the cancellation of the mysterious Project Q game was confirmed.
Along with all this, it was also announced that Ubisoft plans to reduce costs by approximately 176 million pounds over the next two years “through targeted restructuring, the sale of some non-core assets and the usual natural depletion.”
After Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillermo told employees that “the ball is on your side” to make a difference, 40 employees at Ubisoft’s Paris office went on strike, despite Guillermo apologizing for the way his comments were “received.”
In other news, Ubisoft announced that the next season of The Division 2 has been postponed because developers are locked into the game.
