Ex-Assassin’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis Côté is suing Ubisoft for CAD $1.3 million in misplaced severance pay and damages following his shock exit from the corporate final yr.
Radio Canada broke phrase of the lawsuit, which Coté has filed in opposition to his former employer due to the style during which he left the corporate — an “unacceptable demotion” that constituted a “disguised dismissal.”
Côté’s departure from Ubisoft final October got here as a shock to followers and the corporate’s 1000’s of Murderer’s Creed builders, simply weeks after the model grew to become a part of Ubisoft’s new Tencent-backed enterprise entity Vantage Studios. Côté had served greater than 20 years at Ubisoft and labored on a string of Murderer’s Creed hits, earlier than his promotion to head up the flagship model in 2022.
Ubisoft instructed employees of Côté’s departure by way of an inside electronic mail that mentioned the necessity for Vantage Studios’ management group to be “aligned” with its core objectives. On the time, IGN reported that Côté had been supplied a task as a part of Vantage Studios’ management, however declined.
Côté’s lawsuit claims that he was basically changed in his position early in 2025 by Vantage Studios’ newly-installed management, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot — the cousin and son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. With this layer of administration now above him, Côté claims he then discovered over the summer time of 2025 that Vantage was now searching for to rent a brand new Murderer’s Creed franchise boss, too.
Radio Canada’s report means that Côté enquired concerning the position however was instructed he was not appropriate and wouldn’t be supported by Yves Guillemot, because the place was to be based mostly in Ubisoft’s base in France, relatively than in Canada, the place Côté is predicated and each main Murderer’s Creed title has been led.
Côté’s lawsuit allegedly claims that he was supplied a “Head of Manufacturing” position, reporting into the incoming new “Head of Franchise”, after which alternatively the prospect to lead one other enterprise unit, engaged on second-tier Ubisoft franchises.
Throughout a two-week interval of reflection on what to do subsequent, Côté instructed Ubisoft his exit from the corporate would require severance pay. It was at this level that Ubisoft allegedly instructed Côté not to present up for work as anticipated on October 13 and await a proper response. The next day, October 14, Ubisoft introduced that Côté had departed.
In an inside word to Ubisoft employees obtained by IGN on the time, Derennes mentioned he was “upset” by Côté’s determination, however that the previous chief “had his personal expectations and priorities associated to Vantage Studios’ creation and future.”
“Following the organizational restructuring introduced in March 2025, Marc-Alexis Côté has chosen to pursue a brand new path elsewhere exterior of Ubisoft,” a Ubisoft spokesperson mentioned in a remark to IGN on the time. “Whereas we’re saddened to see him go, we’re assured that our proficient groups will carry ahead the sturdy basis he helped construct.”
Now, Côté’s lawsuit alleges his exit from Ubisoft constituted an abuse of energy and resulted in injury to his status. The quantity he’s searching for — CAD $1.3 million — is the sum of two years’ wage and an additional CAD $75,000 in damages. Côté can be searching for for Ubisoft to carry his non-compete settlement, which presently limits his skill to work elsewhere.
Representatives for Côté have confirmed the lawsuit. IGN has contacted Ubisoft for remark.
Côté, recognized to colleagues by his initials as “Mac”, joined Ubisoft in 2005 as a software program engineer, earlier than working as a lead engine programmer on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. From there, he joined the Murderer’s Creed sequence in time for Brotherhood, working as a lead stage designer, earlier than serving as a recreation director on Murderer’s Creed 3.
As artistic director, Côté led improvement on a string of initiatives constructed at Ubisoft Quebec, the proficient group which made Murderer’s Creed: Black Flag DLC Freedom Cry, Murderer’s Creed Syndicate, after which Murderer’s Creed Odyssey, for which he served as senior producer.
In March 2022, as Quebec labored on Murderer’s Creed Shadows and Ubisoft sought to relaunch the sequence with a extra constant story focus by way of the Animus Hub (a mission then envisioned beneath the title of Murderer’s Creed Infinity), it was Côté that took the reigns on all the franchise, laying out a Marvel-style slate of upcoming initiatives that included the forthcoming Murderer’s Creed Hexe, which nonetheless lacks a launch date. The subsequent launch within the franchise is widely-expected to be an Murderer’s Creed: Black Flag remaster, in the meantime.
Picture credit score: Andrej Ivanov/AFP by way of Getty Photos.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You’ll be able to attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social