Assassin's Creed Hexe Loses Another Top Developer, Who Quit To Start Their Own Studio

One of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed codename Hexe, will continue development without its game director. Benoit Richer announced that he left Ubisoft Montreal after nine years to co-found his own company. Richer is just the latest big name to leave Hexe, following creative director Clint Hocking’s exit earlier this year.

Writing on LinkedIn, Richer said, “This is the beginning of a new chapter.” He will become game director at Servo Games, an independent studio in Quebec that is focusing on single-player “atmospheric experiences with top-tier visuals, industry-defining character animation, and meticulously refined controls.” The studio is building games using Unreal Engine 5 and targeting current-generation consoles and PC.

Richer founded Servo Games alongside Alex Drouin, who started at Ubisoft Montreal when it opened its doors in 1997. He led the animation teams for Price of Persia: The Sands of Time and Assassin’s Creed, and would later leave to start THQ’s Montreal studio (which Ubisoft eventually acquired). The other co-founders at Servo include other former Ubisoft veterans Luc Tremblay and Dany Marcoux.

Richer and Hocking left Ubisoft around the time that the company installed new leaders for the Assassin’s Creed team at Vantage Studios, the subsidiary responsible for guiding Assassin’s Creed (and Far Cry and Rainbow Six) into the future. Jean Guesdon, the director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Origins, is taking over for Hocking as creative director on Hexe, but there is no word on who may replace Richer as game director.

Hexe remains largely a mystery, but it’s been described as “a very different type of Assassin’s Creed.” The game is reportedly focused on witchcraft and the occult, and will allow players to possess a cat.

There are multiple other new Assassin’s Creed game in the works, including the PvP game Invictus, the mobile game Jade, and a new game with co-op elements.

Ubisoft has undergone significant upheaval of late. The company enacted mass layoffs and canceled a handful of games as part of a dramatic cost-cutting effort. Looking ahead, Ubisoft is now working on multiple new Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed games, along with “several” new IPs.

One of Ubisoft’s latest big announcements was Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced, a remake of the 2013 game for modern platforms, and it releases this July. For lots more, be sure to check out the gallery below to see 10 ways the remake differs from the original.

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