Ubisoft puts Black Flag leaders in charge of Assassin’s Creed
The publisher has named the leaders who will steward the series under Vantage Studios
Ubisoft has announced the future leadership team for the Assassin’s Creed series, which will be comprised of bosses behind 2013’s Black Flag.
Martin Schelling, Jean Guesdon, and François de Billy will lead the Assassin’s Creed series at Vantage Studios, the newly-launched subsidiary that’s partly funded by Tencent.
Schelling has been named head of the Assassin’s Creed brand and will be responsible for the overall strategy and long-term vision of the brand. Schelling is a veteran producer who’s worked on the series since 2011’s Revelations, including producing Black Flag, and most recently served as Ubisoft’s Chief Production Officer.
Jean Guesdon has been appointed head of content for Assassin’s Creed and will lead its overall creative direction. Jean is another series veteran whose design credits stretch back to the 2007 original. Notably, he was the creative director of both Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
Finally, François de Billy will be the Assassin’s Creed brand’s “head of production excellence”, where he will “strengthen production practices and execution” across the brand, according to Ubisoft. He has worked on the series since the original entry and also produced 2013’s Black Flag.
“Martin, Jean, and François have collaborated closely on multiple flagship Assassin’s Creed games throughout the years, across creative, production, and brand strategy,” Ubisoft said in a statement.
“Over the next few weeks, they will transition from their current roles to formally join the Assassin’s Creed leadership team alongside Andrée-Anne Boisvert, Producer for Assassin’s Creed’s cross-brand initiatives and Head of Technological Excellence, and Lionel Hiller, VP Brand and Go-to-Market Strategy, where they are set to steer the brand’s ambitious new chapter.”
Last month, Ubisoft detailed a ‘major reset’ at the company, which will see its creative teams radically restructured into autonomous ‘creative houses’. The publisher is also rolling out a cost-cutting initiative, which has so far resulted in the cancellation of six games, the postponement of seven others, and two studio closures.
In an interview published last week, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed the company is working on multiple Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games, spanning both single-player and multiplayer.
“We have a solid pipeline underway across Vantage Studios,” Guillemot said. “Under the Assassin’s Creed brand, several titles are in development, spanning both single-player and multiplayer experiences, with the ambition to further grow a community that exceeded 30 million players last year.”
