All articles tagged with #vantage studios
Ubisoft’s Tencent-backed Vantage Studios has named three long-time Ubisoft veterans to lead the Assassin's Creed brand: Martin Schelling as Head of Assassin's Creed Brand, Jean Guesdon as Head of Content, and François de Billy as Head of Production Excellence. They will join existing leaders Andrée-Anne Boisvert and Lionel Hiller as the studio advances its Creative Houses restructuring amid layoffs and studio closures.
Ubisoft has tapped three long-time Assassin’s Creed veterans—Martin Schelling (brand head), François de Billy (Head of Production Excellence), and Jean Guesdon (Head of Content)—to run the franchise from the Tencent-backed Vantage Studios. The trio will define the series’ long-term vision, streamline production workflows, and guide creative direction across future installments—including a Black Flag remake—after recent leadership changes, signaling Ubisoft’s intent to keep the open-world stealth franchise on track and integrated with its broader development strategy.
Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot outlines €200 million in fixed-cost reductions and a shift to autonomous “creative houses” built around key franchises, alongside ongoing development of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry titles and unannounced projects. The plan emphasizes selective restructuring, voluntary departures, tighter recruitment, and project pruning after post-Covid expansion. The move coincides with the appointment of Guillemot’s son Charlie as co-CEO of Vantage Studios, fueling nepotism criticism despite Ubisoft’s defense of the family-led, long‑term strategy. Tencent funds Vantage but claims operational autonomy, while investor confidence has been pressured by governance concerns; about 1,200 French workers recently struck over the company’s changes and return-to-office policy.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reveals a three-year plan to revamp the publisher with a new ‘Creative House’ structure that groups franchises into five houses, including Vantage Studios, aiming to boost creativity and accountability while targeting over €200 million in cost reductions and selective layoffs. The interview covers acquisitions (March of Giants from Amazon) and the Tencent partnership, the global rollout of Rainbow Six Mobile, AI initiatives like ‘Teammates,’ leadership questions around Guillemot’s family involvement, canceled projects (Prince of Persia remake), labor tensions and union concerns, and a push to balance live-service and single-player experiences while delivering a stronger, more agile roadmap for the next three years.
Marc-Alexis Côté, the lead of the Assassin's Creed franchise at Ubisoft, has left the company following the creation of Vantage Studios, a new Ubisoft/Tencent subsidiary responsible for future Assassin's Creed titles. Côté declined a new role at Vantage Studios, marking the end of his nearly two-decade career at Ubisoft, during which he significantly shaped the Assassin's Creed series. The studio was formed after Tencent's €1.16 billion investment in Ubisoft.