Former Assassin’s Creed leader Marc-Alexis Côté is reportedly suing Ubisoft following a surprise and suspicious departure from the company last year.
Côté left Ubisoft in October with the company claiming he’d chosen to leave but Côté claiming he was pushed out. Radio Canada said Côté’s lawsuit seeks CAD $1.3m (£698k) for a mixture of lost severance pay and “moral damages”, and for Ubisoft to lift Côté’s non-compete clause.
The lawsuit apparently claims (I can’t independently find the filing) that problems began when Ubisoft created new company Vantage Studios with Tencent in October, to control its most valuable gaming properties. These include Assassin’s Creed – the franchise Côté was leading, or so he thought. Côté quickly discovered that Vantage was hiring for a new role, Head of Franchises, that would effectively overrule him.
He alleges that Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot blocked his application for the role because Côté was based in Canada and not France, and said he was offered a lower role as Head of Production role instead. “Tense” discussions ensued and resulted in an offer for Côté to lead a “Creative House” looking after second-tier Ubisoft brands.
Côté, “disoriented, confused, and affected by the anxiety-inducing situation”, according to the filing, took a break from the company to think and reflect.
Ubisoft management apparently told him that at the end of his two week period of reflection, he’d have to make a choice whether or not to accept the position offered, which Côté saw as an “unacceptable demotion” and therefore a form of “disguised dismissal”, so he demanded severance pay in accordance with that.
Côté had been expected back at work on 13th October but the lawsuit said Ubisoft told him not to show while it formulated a response. The company then suddenly announced he had left the company of his own accord, seeking new opportunities elsewhere, which the lawsuit claims Ubisoft did to avoid paying severance and to apply a non-compete clause. Côté wrote an emotional message at the time, claiming he did not walk away but was asked to step aside.
Ubisoft has not yet responded to the lawsuit filing.
Marc-Alexis Côté worked at Ubisoft for 20 years, spending 15 of those on Assassin’s Creed. He was a lead level designer on Brotherhead, director of 3, and then led Ubisoft Quebec as it made Black Flag add-on Freedom Cry and Syndicate. He was senior producer of Odyssey, and then in 2022, Côté stepped up to take control of the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise, rebooting it somewhat and kicking off the new era with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which launched in March last year.
