Another Ubisoft veteran has announced his departure from the company. Jean Guesdon, known for his involvement in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, is no longer part of the team.
Jean Guesdon, image credit: BAFTA Guru
Guesdon shared the news on LinkedIn, saying that he is leaving Ubisoft Montreal after more than 17 years.
“I can’t express how much I owe to this unique company,” he wrote. “So many people met, so many skills learned and so many projects shipped. And Assassin’s Creed, of course Assassin’s Creed… Thank you Ubi, very very much!”
Jean Guesdon started his career in the traditional toys business, but eventually joined Ubisoft Montreal in 2005. He became part of the original Assassin’s Creed team, working as a production coordinator to help plan and track development activities.
Guesdon later took on the role of game designer for Assassin’s Creed II and was eventually promoted to the franchise’s head of content. In this position, he oversaw the development of the Assassin’s Creed series to make sure its universe and lore were cohesive.
In 2014, Guesdon became the creative director for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and later took on the same role for Assassin’s Creed Origins. He spent the last five years at Ubisoft working on an unannounced game for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. According to Kotaku, it was a project codenamed Renaissance, a “collaborative voxel-based game with shades of Minecraft.”
Earlier this year, Ubisoft announced a new round of layoffs and also canceled three unannounced titles. However, it is unclear whether Renaissance was one of them.