One More Ubisoft Veteran Parts Ways With the Studio
The company's Montreal division lost two Level Design Directors within the span of a single week.
Following the departure of Assassin's Creed franchise Lead Marc-Alexis Côté – involuntary, according to Côté himself, who is now suing Ubisoft over alleged constructive dismissal – and the firing of Lead Level Designer David Michaud-Cromp – which came days after he publicly criticized the studio's return-to-office policy – one more Ubisoft veteran has now parted ways with the studio.
Turning the aforementioned duo into a trio is Luc Couture, a true Ubisoft longtimer with over 24 years of experience at the company, who previously worked on titles ranging from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the original Assassin's Creed to the yet-to-be-announced Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe.
According to Couture's farewell statement, his exit is driven by a personal need for change, suggesting his departure was likely voluntary rather than enforced. He added that he plans to "pivot to tackling new challenges as part of a smaller studio with other veterans," though it remains unclear whether he is referring to an already established game development team or the potential formation of a brand-new one.
Depending on your attentiveness and how closely you were following the situation, you may or may not have noticed that Couture's departure comes directly after David Michaud-Cromp's, with both leaving Ubisoft in the same week, around 24 hours apart.
Combined with the fact that both hail from Ubisoft's Montreal division and were serving as Level Design Directors, it is only natural to assume the two departures may be connected – maybe Couture resigned in protest of Michaud-Cromp's termination, maybe the division's leadership is targeting the Level Design department in particular, maybe some other reason entirely. We have contacted both developers to find out whether their exits are linked in any way and will provide an update once we receive a reply.
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