Out of nowhere (seemingly) Patrice Desilets, the French game designer responsible for Assassin’s Creed and recent Prince of Persia titles at Ubisoft, has – according to his personal Twitter – been fired.
“Contrary to reports,” he said this evening, correcting earlier stories that had emerged suggesting he’d resigned, “I didn’t leave, Ubisoft fired me, and I intend to fight them vigorously for my rights, my team and my game.”
“I was notified of this termination in person,” he added, speaking away from the social media site, “handed a termination notice and was unceremoniously escorted out of the building by two guards without being able to say goodbye to my team or collect my personal belongings.”
“This was not my decision,” he said. “Ubisoft’s actions are baseless and without merit.”
In a statement issued to press earlier, Ubisoft said that, speaking of their Montreal studio, “since the acquisition, the good faith discussions between Patrice and Ubisoft aimed at aligning Patrice’s and the studio’s visions have been inconclusive.”
“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.”
Desilets left Ubisoft in 2010, moved to THQ in 2011, then back to Ubisoft at the beginning of the year when the publisher acquired THQ Montreal.
xdarkmagician
kinda makes sense, after all he quit. Its not like he was hired back, he was just acquired because Ubi wanted THQ Montreal. Companies want to trust their employees, since he somewhat recently quit theres was probably some bad blood still between the two. I’m sure it would only be a matter of time befre he quit again and possibly created an infinity ward situation at Ubi
Origami Killer
surely firing him after they acquired THQ Montreal is a little bit out of order though?
xdarkmagician
it sounds like Ubi cancelled his games and he was fighting them on the call. They gave him a chance, but he wouldn’t back down.
With a newly acquired studio Ubi had to make an example or face a mutiny. Its a tough choice, but if you dont toss out a bad apple the whole bunch will spoil.
hazelam
but is making an example of him is a legally acceptable reason for firing him?
Kevatron400
Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s not a legal base for dismissal. Good luck to Patrice.
gazzagb
“My team and my game”
That sounds to me like another Infinity Ward/Respawn situation. Maybe Ubi didn’t like how he was running the studio or something, and he wanted more control.
Erroneus
Or maybe he didn’t like how Ubisoft has turned AC into a money machine, with a new game each year, which clearly hurts quality.