Former Assassin's Creed Creative Director Started at THQ Today

Patrice Désilets hasn't been to work for awhile. A long time Ubisoft employee, Désilets served as the creative director of the Assassin's Creed franchise (and on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) up until last October. Shortly before the release of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Désilets announced that he was leaving his longtime employer… but he wasn't going very far.

Désilets revealed that he would be leaving Ubisoft Montreal to join THQ in their new Montreal studio. Once again serving as the studio's Creative Director, Désilets' was be tasked with building up a development team inside the Montreal Studio and developing a brand new game IP for the studio.

Unfortunately, Désilets wasn't actually able to begin his new job and new project at the time the announcement came out. Thanks to Ubisoft's non-compete clause, Désilets couldn't actually begin working for THQ for the past nine months.

But now he can. THQ has formally announced that Désilets' non-compete clause is finally over, and he has finally joined the Montreal studio in earnest. Said Désilets in a quote in the announcement release today:

"The creative freedom that THQ gives its artists and developers--and their willingness to make games that truly reflect an artistic vision--really drew me to THQ," said Désilets. "I plan to build an incredibly talented team at THQ, and am very anxious to get started on creating a new project."

What that new project ends up developing into, it's too early to say. It was originally rumored that Désilets would be working with famed film director Guillermo Del Toro on his game project with THQ. However, Del Toro's game--eventually titled inSANE--was in the hands of Red Faction/Saints Row developer Volition. Currently, THQ Montreal is taking over the development of the Homefront franchise from the soon-to-be-shutteredKaos Studios. THQ Montreal is aiming to be large enough to support development of two games, so Désilets is bound to split his time between the next iteration of the mostly-succesful Homefront and his new project.

To be honest, however, I think I'm more interested in in seeing Désilets make his new game than try and improve/fix Homefront.

Not sure how i feel about this...it could be great, could be awesome, could be terrible. I do wonder what the new project is. Hopefully it's not a rehash. We need some crazy ass original games.

Can't blame him, he wanted to make something new, instead of making a new version of assassin's creed every year.

This is sad fucking news 
 
if this man is the brains behind Assassin's Creed, and he's gone, i fear for AC3 :(

I like Patrice, and hope Revelations kicks ass without him.  I wish him the best at THQ.

Sounds dope! Can't wait for more parkour goodness to come!

Shit, this article just reminded me that inSANE is still a thing...what a stupid idea to announce a trilogy of games 3 years before it's release with no details.

This guy worked on some great titles, so I'm excited to see what his new project is, even though the announcement is at least a few years off.

Lol why would you leave Ubisoft for THQ?

I always wonder what developers who pretty much work on the same franchise for years and years do when they're allowed to do something new.''

Best for everyone if we just forget Homefront altogether.

I'm looking forward to seeing what he's brewing.

Sounds pretty promising. This guy has made some great games and I'd love to see what he does next.

Man, over the past few years, THQ has kind of silently started to become awesome.

@XAMS said:

@mcderby4: For money.

Or because he has a highly successful franchise under his belt and decided it was time to test the waters, or maybe he just got tired of the way things work at Ubisoft. Nothing against Ubi just that sometimes seemingly minor things can gnaw at a person. When that happens it's probably time to move on.

I really wonder what this nine month "non-compete" stint has meant for him. What sort of ideas has he come up with himself, what has he seen that could make him say "this is what I want to do next"? Could be very interesting!

I would have loved to see him finish the Assassin's Creed Trilogy before he left. Nonetheless, its good to have him making games again.

I'm sad he left Ubisoft, which I think is the better company of the two. Hope he does well though.

Definitely looking forward to him making a new game.

I wouldn't call homefront successful at all if the developer got closed down

I was going to make a joke about him working on Homefront. Then I RTFA.

Hey, that guy is clearly awesome, so if he works on Homefront it will at least be interesting.

I wonder what happened at Ubisoft to make him want to leave?

Not sure how i feel about this...it could be great, could be awesome, could be terrible. I do wonder what the new project is. Hopefully it's not a rehash. We need some crazy ass original games.

This guy can do pretty awesome stuff... though the people working at THQ are usually bad at making video games in general.  As great as Patrice is, it will be THQ programming whatever new game he makes, and that's not a good thing.

Every company needs a French guy. Especially if it's this guy.

I want him to have a guiding hand over Homefront....just put them in the right direction for a decent Single Player Campaign.
 
Rest of Homefront, the setting and backstory, was great...KAOS just sucked at doing Single Player...Frontlines was the same.

"Oh yeah, you come over to THQ and we'll give you complete artistic freedom and let you work on whatever you want."

"Sweet sign me up."

"Cool. Here's this garbage IP. Make a sequel, and make it good."

"Well, shit."

So the guy who made Assassin's Creed is now working on a First Person Shooter? Great...

The first Assassin's Creed was an incredibly innovative  game that suffered from repetition. They addressed the problems and made a great game in the second. If that is the kind of stuff he's going to bring to the table, THQ should start fitting him for his money suit now.

Good luck to the man :)

At least we know the man has ability in managing large teams and big budget titles.

Good luck to Patrice Desiltes,  I look forward to what he is going to come up with there and well done to THQ getting him.  
Come to think of it, he could of gone anywhere in the world and went to THQ. They maybe doing something right by giving him the creative freedom. 

We are expecting an awesome game from this guy. Don't disappoint.

I'm happy there are new IPs coming out of Ubisoft at all. Ubisoft makes really interesting franchises that feel different when they make a high budget one.

I. Love. This. Guy.

Good luck to him. I hope he really blows everyone away with whatever new game he is working on.

Good to hear someone's back in work! And even better to hear they're creating a new IP, im tired of the same games over and over.

Okie Dokie. Kind of a random thing to write a news story about.

Wait, they're investing Homefront? What?

This is good news for THQ.

Excited to see what he does, loved his work on Assassin's Creed. Super talented dude.

I wonder where this goes :D

ahah greatest picture

The coolest French-Canadian this side of the maple leaf.

Great. He's finally able to work again and the first thing he's saddled with is salvaging the wreckage of Homefront. If you can climb buildings and stab north koreans with hidden blades, maybe it could be saved

@The_Medic said:

"Oh yeah, you come over to THQ and we'll give you complete artistic freedom and let you work on whatever you want."

"Sweet sign me up."

"Cool. Here's this garbage IP. Make a sequel, and make it good."

"Well, shit."

"Also, here's this giant pile of money. We'll get you more piles every month."

"That's cool, then."

I doubt they'll give him much garbage IP. They want a franchise like Assassin's Creed. I bet he's getting Scrooge McDuck money over there.

I'm interested in whatever this guy is up to. Assassin's Creed stands as one of my favorite franchises of all time... and I haven't even played Brotherhood yet (not allowed until I finish my current games).