Former Assassin’s Creed Boss Is Suing Ubisoft

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Marc-Alexis Côté, a former executive producer on the Assassin’s Creed series, is suing Ubisoft in Quebec. He’s seeking around $1 million, claiming he was unfairly forced to leave the company.

For over two decades, Côté worked at Ubisoft, most recently as Vice President and Executive Producer of the Assassin’s Creed series, a position he took on in March 2022. In October 2025, Ubisoft announced his departure, explaining he’d been offered a role at their new Vantage Studios – which would oversee Assassin’s Creed and other franchises – but that he declined. Vantage co-CEO Christophe Derennes expressed disappointment with this decision. Shortly after, Côté publicly disagreed with that account on LinkedIn, stating he hadn’t left voluntarily, but was asked to step down. He also emphasized he felt no ill will about the situation.

Côté Reportedly Suing Ubisoft for CAD $1.3 Million

Marc-Alexis Côté

So, it looks like Serge Côté is actually suing Ubisoft! I just read a report from Radio-Canada saying he’s asking for around $930,000 in damages – that includes about two years of his salary and another $54,000 for, well, emotional distress. Apparently, he claims Ubisoft basically forced him out. The documents say they offered him a much smaller role, and he had to choose between taking it or leaving completely. It’s really sad to hear, especially since he was a big part of the Assassin’s Creed games.

Côté’s ‘Unacceptable’ Ubisoft Demotion Explained

Before Ubisoft created Vantage Studios with Tencent, Côté led the Assassin’s Creed franchise and reported directly to CEO Yves Guillemot. After the launch of Vantage, he was offered a production role, reporting to the head of the Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six franchises – all now managed by the new company. Côté claims he wasn’t considered for the top franchise leadership position because it was located in France, not his home province of Quebec. He believes his position weakened significantly after Vantage was established, leaving him with a choice between a substantial demotion or losing his job.

When Côté declined a different role at Ubisoft, the company considered it a resignation and didn’t offer him severance. His lawyers, however, claim this was actually a forced resignation – or “constructive dismissal” under Canadian law – meaning he’s entitled to full severance pay. He’s also seeking compensation for damage to his professional reputation and wants to remove a non-compete agreement that he believes is limiting his job search in a difficult market, according to a report from Radio-Canada.

Ubisoft created Vantage Studios to be a central creative center. This aims to speed up the development process for its major game franchises by making decisions faster, sharing technology, and getting feedback from players more quickly. The new structure also gives development teams more independence. Vantage Studios combines Ubisoft teams from cities like Barcelona, Quebec, Montreal, Sherbrooke, and Sofia, all working under a single leadership. This announcement comes after a difficult time for Ubisoft, where several expensive games haven’t met expectations, most recently with Star Wars Outlaws.

The launch of Vantage Studios was also a smart financial and organizational move. Tencent invested about $1.35 billion (€1.16 billion) for a roughly 25% share in the new studio, giving Ubisoft a large sum of money while still letting them lead the creative side of things. Ubisoft explained that this partnership aims to help their most popular game series grow faster and ensure a steady stream of consistently successful games across multiple platforms.

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2026-01-19 03:04