Ubisoft fires Patrice Desilets

            Patrice Desilets had worked at Ubisoft for many years and was Creative Director on both Assassin’s Creed 1&2. He left the company back in 2010 while Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was still in development. A year later he became a part of the newly developed THQ Montreal where he began work on his new game known only as 1666. This past January, when THQ closed down, Ubisoft bought THQ Montreal along with the rights to 1666. This acquisition also forced Patrice back to the company he had chosen to leave. Ubisoft released an early statement informing people that Patrice was no longer with the company and tried to make it appear as though they just couldn’t see eye to eye and so he decided to leave: "Unfortunately, since the acquisition, the good faith discussions between Patrice and Ubisoft aimed at aligning Patrice’s and the studio’s visions have been inconclusive. As a result, Patrice has left the studio.”

Patrice then released his own statement, framing things quite differently: “Contrary to any statements made earlier today, this morning I was terminated by Ubisoft. I was notified of this termination in person, handed a termination notice and was unceremoniously escorted out of the building by two guards without being able to say goodbye to my team or collect my personal belongings. This was not my decision. Ubisoft’s actions are baseless and without merit. I intend to fight Ubisoft vigorously for my rights, for my team and for my game.”

            It appears that Ubisoft and Patrice disagreed about what should be done with the game and so Ubisoft decided that, rather than argue or debate, they were just going to fire a man from his own game. It is noteworthy that Patrice left Ubisoft the first time when Assassin’s Creed was being annualized, so it is possible that Ubisoft sees Patrice’s new project as a cash cow just like Assassin’s Creed and wants to do spin-offs and multiple games that Patrice hadn’t envisioned for the IP. However, we don’t know anything about 1666 yet and we have no way at this time of knowing exactly what Ubisoft’s motivations for firing Patrice were or what they will do with the game moving forward.

[Source: Kotaku]