Former head of the Assassin’s Creed franchise and Ubisoft veteran Marc-Alexis Côté has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, alleging that his departure from the company was a “constructive dismissal”. He is suing Ubisoft in Quebec, Canada, for 1.3 million CAD (Canadian Dollars), which roughly translates to nearly $1 million USD. According to Radio-Canada, Côté’s departure from the company comes on the heels of Ubisoft having opened its subsidiary, Vantage Studios, which has taken control of the Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six franchises.
This move meant that Côté was essentially demoted from heading up the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and his new position would require him to relocate from Canada to France. The role itself involved being the head of a “Creative House” where Côté would oversee smaller Ubisoft franchises. This ultimately led to him declining and leaving the company. Ubisoft’s own announcement of his “voluntary” departure, he claimed, was surprising.
Côté has been working with Ubisoft for over two decades and had a hand in developing several of its bigger franchises. Some of the titles he had worked on included Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. He would eventually become a game director, working on Assassin’s Creed 3, and from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey onwards, he would go on to serve as a senior producer.
In his role of essentially heading up the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Côté had announced that Ubisoft would be changing its strategies with the series. Back in 2022, he announced that the company was switching to longer development cycles for Assassin’s Creed games instead of the yearly release cadence.
“Following the organizational restructuring announced in March 2025, Marc-Alexis Côté has chosen to pursue a new path elsewhere outside of Ubisoft,” a spokesperson from Ubisoft said in a statement announcing his departure. “While we are saddened to see him go, we’re confident that our talented teams will carry forward the strong foundation he helped build.”
“We are deeply grateful for the impact Marc-Alexis has had over the years, particularly in shaping the Assassin’s Creed brand into what it is today. His leadership, creativity, and dedication have left a lasting mark on our teams and our players. We thank him sincerely for his many contributions and wish him continued success in all his future endeavors.”
As for Vantage Studios, the subsidiary is still relatively new and hasn’t yet had a chance to leave its mark on any major releases. It was launched back in October, with the publisher saying that its responsibilities will be to “take on development and expansion of these brands, building on the foundation of Ubisoft’s experience and expertise, sharing services and technical resources, all while giving developers more hands-on control over the games they are building.”
The subsidiary is headed by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s son, Charlie Guillemot, who is teaming up with Christophe Derennes in the role of co-CEOs. The company is taking on leadership of various Ubisoft studios in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia.
