Ex-Murderer’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis Côté is suing Ubisoft for $1.3 million in misplaced severance pay and damages following his shock exit from the corporate final 12 months.
Radio Canada broke phrase of the lawsuit, which Coté has filed in opposition to his former employer as a result of method wherein he left the corporate — an “unacceptable demotion” that constituted a “disguised dismissal.”
Côté’s departure from Ubisoft final October got here as a shock to followers and the corporate’s hundreds of Murderer’s Creed builders, simply weeks after the model grew to become a part of Ubisoft’s new Tencent-backed enterprise entity Vantage Studios. Côté had served greater than 20 years at Ubisoft and labored on a string of Murderer’s Creed hits, earlier than his promotion to move up the flagship model in 2022.
Ubisoft informed employees of Côté’s departure through an inner e mail that mentioned the necessity for Vantage Studios’ management workforce to be “aligned” with its core objectives. On the time, IGN reported that Côté had been supplied a task as a part of Vantage Studios’ management, however declined.
Côté’s lawsuit claims that he was primarily changed in his position early in 2025 by Vantage Studios’ newly-installed management, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot — the cousin and son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. With this layer of administration now above him, Côté claims he then discovered over the summer season of 2025 that Vantage was now searching for to rent a brand new Murderer’s Creed franchise boss, too.
Radio Canada’s report means that Côté enquired concerning the position however was informed he was not appropriate and wouldn’t be supported by Yves Guillemot, because the place was to be primarily based in Ubisoft’s base in France, slightly than in Canada, the place Côté relies and each main Murderer’s Creed title has been led.
Côté’s lawsuit allegedly claims that he was supplied a “Head of Manufacturing” position, reporting into the incoming new “Head of Franchise”, after which alternatively the prospect to steer one other enterprise unit, engaged on second-tier Ubisoft franchises.
Throughout a two-week interval of reflection on what to do subsequent, Côté informed Ubisoft his exit from the corporate would require severance pay. It was at this level that Ubisoft allegedly informed Côté to not present up for work as anticipated on October 13 and await a proper response. The next day, October 14, Ubisoft introduced that Côté had departed.
In an inner word to Ubisoft employees obtained by IGN on the time, Derennes stated he was “dissatisfied” by Côté’s determination, however that the previous chief “had his personal expectations and priorities associated to Vantage Studios’ creation and future.”
“Following the organizational restructuring introduced in March 2025, Marc-Alexis Côté has chosen to pursue a brand new path elsewhere exterior of Ubisoft,” a Ubisoft spokesperson stated in a remark to IGN on the time. “Whereas we’re saddened to see him go, we’re assured that our gifted groups will carry ahead the robust basis he helped construct.”
Now, Côté’s lawsuit alleges his exit from Ubisoft constituted an abuse of energy and resulted in harm to his repute. The quantity he’s searching for — $1.3 million — is the sum of two years’ wage and an additional $75,000 in damages. Côté can also be searching for for Ubisoft to raise his non-compete settlement, which at the moment limits his means to work elsewhere.
Representatives for Côté have confirmed the lawsuit. IGN has contacted Ubisoft for remark.
Côté, recognized to colleagues by his initials as “Mac”, joined Ubisoft in 2005 as a software program engineer, earlier than working as a lead engine programmer on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. From there, he joined the Murderer’s Creed collection in time for Brotherhood, working as a lead degree designer, earlier than serving as a recreation director on Murderer’s Creed 3.
As inventive director, Côté led growth on a string of tasks constructed at Ubisoft Quebec, the gifted workforce which made Murderer’s Creed: Black Flag DLC Freedom Cry, Murderer’s Creed Syndicate, after which Murderer’s Creed Odyssey, for which he served as senior producer.
In March 2022, as Quebec labored on Murderer’s Creed Shadows and Ubisoft sought to relaunch the collection with a extra constant story focus through the Animus Hub (a undertaking then envisioned underneath the title of Murderer’s Creed Infinity), it was Côté that took the reigns on your entire franchise, laying out a Marvel-style slate of upcoming tasks that included the forthcoming Murderer’s Creed Hexe, which nonetheless lacks a launch date. The following launch within the franchise is widely-expected to be an Murderer’s Creed: Black Flag remaster, in the meantime.
Picture credit score: Andrej Ivanov/AFP through Getty Pictures.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You’ll be able to attain Tom at [email protected] or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social