Since its basis almost 40 years in the past, Ubisoft has been a household firm, with the Guillemot brothers steering the French gaming large. That custom is constant with the brand new spun-off subsidiary of the corporate funded partly by Tencent, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s personal son, Charlie Guillemot, being named because the co-CEO together with Ubisoft Montreal veteran Christophe Derennes.
The 2 males will lead the brand new subsidiary that goals to “speed up the expansion” of Ubisoft’s predominant franchises: Murderer’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry.
Charlie Guillemot received his begin in gaming at Owlient in 2014, and Ubisoft later acquired the horse simulation game developer. He left Ubisoft in 2021 earlier than rejoining the corporate earlier this yr main as much as his promotion to co-CEO. As for Derennes, he was a co-founder of Ubisoft Montreal in 1997 and was most not too long ago the managing director for Ubisoft’s North American operations.
Asked by Variety about considerations over nepotism, Charlie Guillemot mentioned he “fully” understands why some would take challenge along with his promotion. “Sure, I am Yves’ son. That is not one thing I cover from. However my appointment is not solely about household ties; it is about what Ubisoft wants at this second,” he mentioned.
Charlie might be accountable for issues just like the “imaginative and prescient, route, content material improvement, and advertising and marketing” of Ubisoft’s predominant franchises going ahead, whereas Derennes will oversee manufacturing, co-development, and know-how.
Wanting forward, Charlie said he expects generative AI and cloud applied sciences to “revolutionize” recreation improvement and participant experiences. “Typically which means shorter content material, talking to new generations that devour content material another way. I am satisfied the trade will face new tech disruptions we will not totally predict but. And Ubisoft intends to play an lively function in shaping that future.”
His remark about generative AI is more likely to trigger a stir given ongoing severe considerations expressed by builders concerning the function of generative AI in recreation improvement and potential job losses. A report from earlier this yr mentioned the vast majority of recreation builders worldwide use AI, regardless of considerations from employees. Simply this week, laid-off builders at Microsoft’s Sweet Crush developer mentioned AI tools they helped create are essentially replacing them. Ubisoft has been a big believer in generative AI for years already.
Derennes, in the meantime, mentioned online game franchises are now not “simply” video games, however as an alternative are complete “universes” and are “integral components of the popular culture.”
Within the Selection interview, Derennes mentioned the Far Cry, Murderer’s Creed, and Rainbow Six franchises have turn into “full-fledged universes, and we need to broaden their attain, cultural impression, and relevance with new audiences even additional.”
The announcement of Charlie Guillemot and Derennes as the brand new co-CEOs is the primary part of an ongoing rollout of bulletins for the brand new subsidiary. “Along with Charlie, we might be engaged on constructing the management staff of this new construction, defining roles and governance. Change is ongoing and it is rather a lot a collective effort. Whereas we’re comfortable to have the ability to share this milestone right now, we nonetheless have some work forward of us earlier than the brand new group is operational,” Derennes mentioned.
In March, Ubisoft introduced this new “devoted subsidiary” that’s centered on Murderer’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, with Tencent offering greater than $1 billion to amass a stake. Ubisoft mentioned the components of its enterprise that aren’t included on this new entity, together with The Division and Ghost Recon, together with improvement of sure new IP, will proceed in parallel.
Tencent emerged because the winner following a “aggressive course of” below which Ubisoft thought of completely different “strategic choices.” It was beforehand reported that Microsoft and EA had been within the combine in some capability.
It has been a tumultuous previous yr for Ubisoft even previous to this, as the corporate’s cost-cutting efforts have included mass layoffs and studio closures, in addition to the shutdown of XDefiant.