It’s a complicated day at Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed creative lead Patrice Desilets is no longer with Ubisoft--again. What remains a slightly open question is how that happened--again.
Kotaku reported earlier today that Desilets had left the company, and Ubisoft issued a lengthy, weirdly vague response about what happened.
“Since the acquisition, the good faith discussions between Patrice and Ubisoft aimed at aligning Patrice’s and the studio’s visions have been inconclusive,” reads part of the statement. “As a result, Patrice has left the studio. Our priorities remain with the teams already hard at work on projects in development. They are at the root of Ubisoft Montréal’s past and future successes.”
Then, Desilets issued a statement to several publications and Twitter, claiming he had been fired by Ubisoft, and was escorted out of the building by security guards. He intends to fight back against Ubisoft.
"Contrary to reports, I didn’t leave," he said. "Ubisoft fired me, and I intend to fight them vigorously for my rights, my team and my game."
Desilets originally departed from Ubisoft in 2010 as development on Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood wound down. He returned to video games in 2011 as part of THQ Montreal, where several games--1666, Underdog--were reportedly in development. Neither of these games have been shown publicly, and when THQ went kaput earlier this year, THQ Montreal became part of Ubisoft. That deal included Desilets.