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17 CommentsUbisoft indefinitely suspends production on 1666 after firing Patrice Desilets
By Samit Sarkar on May 15, 2013 05.15.13
After parting ways with former Assassin's Creed designer Patrice Desilets, Ubisoft has indefinitely suspended production on 1666, CEO Yves Guillemot said today during an investor call for the company's 2012-13 earnings report. "After more than two months of discussions with [Desilets], we couldn't align our vision both on project development and team management," said Guillemot, "so consequently our collaboration has ended, and we have suspended 1666 for an undisclosed period of time." Desilets left Ubisoft Montreal in 2010 and joined THQ Montreal in 2011, where he served as the creative director on an unannounced project with the working title of 1666. Ubisoft acquired the studio and its intellectual property in THQ's first bankruptcy auction this past January for $2.5 million, and...
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9 CommentsAcclaimed game designer Desilets returns to Ubisoft after THQ collapse
By Brian Crecente on Mar 14, 2013 03.14.13
The fate of Patrice Desilets, the acclaimed game designer who created the Assassin's Creed franchise before leaving Ubisoft to join THQ Montreal in 2011, is no longer up in the air. Ubisoft officials today confirmed to Polygon that Desilets has returned to the company. The return to Ubisoft occurred after THQ Montreal, where Desilets was working, was acquired wholesale by Ubisoft in THQ's January fire sale. "We are very pleased to welcome Patrice to Ubisoft again and anticipate that this renewed partnership will produce new ideas and high-quality titles for Ubisoft's customers," a spokesperson said. In January, a Ubisoft representative told Polygon that it was too soon to say if Desilets would return to Ubisoft. "In the coming weeks we'll be looking at how to offer an organizational...
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6 CommentsUbisoft's new Montreal studio working on old and new games alike
By Dave Tach on Feb 07, 2013 02.07.13
Ubisoft will use the employees of the former THQ Montreal to work on new and old projects alike, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during an investor call today. "On the studio side, we are going to see projects in the long run," Guillemot said. "What is very important and interesting is that we will be able to work with those resources on the products that we are already working [on] for next year. So the studio will automatically be introduced in the network of studios we have, and is going to help to grow the games we have on the way at the moment." Former Ubisoft employee and Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Desilets left the company to join THQ Montreal in 2011, where he had been working on an unannounced title known as 1666. It wasn't immediately clear if he would make the...
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15 CommentsVigil received no bids and other details from the THQ courtroom proceedings
By Christopher Grant on Jan 23, 2013 01.23.13
While Morrison looked similar enough to many of the other men in the court room — that's to say, a middle-aged white man in a suit — he was the only person to take the podium and argue for a stop to the proceedings. As an "equity holder" in the company, Morrison and a colleague were frustrated that the entirety of THQ could be valued for as little as $100 million when the last game from just one of its studios sold over five million units. "That would be the [sale] that we'd object to," Morrison said, referring specifically to Saints Row: The Third developer Volition, Inc. Barring that brief diversion — a reminder that the actual shareholders of companies filing for bankruptcy protection in the historically corporate-friendly Delaware are often on the losing end of things — the...
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11 CommentsUbisoft: 'Too soon to say' if Desilets is returning to Ubisoft after THQ Montreal sale
By Griffin McElroy on Jan 23, 2013 01.23.13
The fate of Patrice Desilets, the acclaimed game designer who created the Assassin's Creed franchise before leaving Ubisoft to join THQ Montreal in 2011, is still up in the air after the studio was acquired wholesale by Ubisoft in today's THQ fire sale. When questioned whether Desilets would return to Ubisoft — a company which filed a quickly overturned injunction against THQ after it hired Desilets, citing a non-compete provision — a representative for the publisher explained that the matter is still unsettled. "It's too soon to say for certain, but we are very excited about THQ Montreal becoming part Ubisoft," the Ubisoft representative said. "In the coming weeks we'll be looking at how to offer an organizational structure that provides continuity for the creative teams...
