Vantage Studios, the Ubisoft subsidiary that now manages the publisher’s biggest brands, has announced a fresh leadership team for Assassin’s Creed.
The blockbuster historical stabathon series will now be led by Martin Schelling, a veteran Ubisoft producer who previously served senior roles on Assassin’s Creed titles such as Black Flag, Origins and Valhalla, and has recently served as Ubisoft’s Chief Production Officer.
Schelling will be assisted by Assassin’s Creed veteran Jean Guesdon, who will assume the role of Head of Content for the franchise. Looking after the series’ creative direction, Guesdon will be applying the experience he’s gained as a long-term designer on the series, working on more than a dozen titles in the franchise, back to Assassin’s Creed 1 in 2007.
Finally, François de Billy will serve as Head of Production Excellence, following previously acting as Production Director on Valhalla and Origins.
The trio will assume their new roles over the next few weeks, and steer the franchise forward following the sudden departure of Assassin’s Creed’s previous boss Marc-Alexis Côté, the veteran Ubisoft employee who announced his departure from the company last October, shortly after Vantage Studios leadership took control of the brand.
Ubisoft told staff of Côté’s departure via an internal email that discussed the need for Vantage Studios’ leadership team to be “aligned” with its core goals. At the time, IGN reported that Côté had been offered a role as part of Vantage Studios’ leadership, but declined.
Côté has since launched a lawsuit against Ubisoft that claims he was essentially replaced in his role early in 2025 by Vantage Studios’ newly-installed leadership, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot — the cousin and son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. With this layer of management now above him, Côté alleges he then learned over the summer of 2025 that Vantage was now seeking to hire a new Assassin’s Creed franchise boss, too.
Last week, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reaffirmed that the company had “several” Assassin’s Creed titles in development, comprised of both single-player and multiplayer experiences. Back in 2022, Ubisoft announced a raft of upcoming games including the now-launched Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the witchcraft-inspired Assassin’s Creed: Hexe (another single-player blockbuster) and Invictus (a multiplayer game). The company is also widely-expected to announce its long-awaited Black Flag remake soon.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
