Former Assassin's Creed boss says he did not leave voluntarily: 'I stayed at my post until Ubisoft asked me to step aside'

A day after Ubisoft confirmed his departure, former Assassin's Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Côté says he did not choose to leave the company, but was asked to step aside by leadership after being offered a reduced role at Ubisoft's new Vantage Studios subsidiary.

Côté's departure from Ubisoft on October 15 came without warning, and was a particular surprise because of the success of Assassin's Creed Shadows just seven months prior—the culmination of an effort to restore the series' flagging fortunes that began with his elevation to the executive producer role in 2018.

But while Ubisoft said it was "deeply grateful" for his impact on the Assassin's Creed games and "saddened to see him go," it was also apparently the company's idea that he leave.

"Many of you have expressed surprise that I would choose to leave Assassin’s Creed after so many years, especially given the passion I still hold for it," Côté wrote in an emotional, occasionally gutting message posted on LinkedIn. "The truth is simple: I did not make that choice.

"Ubisoft decided to transfer the leadership of the Assassin’s Creed franchise to someone closer to its new organizational structure. A different position was mentioned, but it did not carry the same scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years."

The Assassin's Creed games, along with Far Cry and Rainbow Six, are now under the control of Vantage Studios, a Tencent-backed subsidiary headed up by co-CEOs Christophe Derennes, a Ubisoft veteran who's been with the company for 35 years, and Charlie Guillemot, son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, who headed up development of the now-shuttered Tom Clancy's Elite Squad mobile game, then co-founded an NFT company, and then returned to Ubisoft to assume leadership of its three biggest franchises.

Despite all that, Côté said he holds "no resentment," and that he'll "always be grateful for the people, the projects, and the belief that together we could create worlds that inspire millions."

"But I also owe it to my teams, past and present, to say this plainly: I did not walk away. I stayed at my post until Ubisoft asked me to step aside," he wrote. "As someone who grew up inspired by Star Trek (TNG!), in the later years of my career I came to see myself as the captain of the Assassin’s Creed ship, someone who leaves only once every soul on board is safe. And that is exactly what I have done for as long as I could."