🎮️ Assassin’s Creed Is in Serious Trouble

Good morning!

Luke here, reporting live from my caffeine-fueled command center, where Assassin’s Creed is busy stabbing itself in the back. Ubisoft’s latest leadership shuffle feels less “brotherhood” and more “boardroom bloodbath.” Meanwhile, Xbox might be getting Halo on PS5, Elden Ring is having a Switch-sized meltdown, and a Bayonetta dev just dropped the ultimate “graphics aren’t everything” mic.

In this edition, we’ve got:

• Ubisoft’s nepo baby takeover (and why AC fans should worry)

• Halo and Elden Ring rumors stirring up the console wars

• And industry drama so spicy it could power a Palworld server farm

Grab your coffee, load your clips, and scroll on, here’s everything you need to know this week in the world of gaming.

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TOP STORY

🎮 Assassin’s Creed Is in Serious Trouble

Alright, assassins, sheath your blades and grab your popcorn, because Ubisoft’s stealthiest franchise is quietly walking itself off a cliff.

The Setup

Marc-Alexis Côté, the guy who’s been steering Assassin’s Creed since 2022, just got yeeted out of Ubisoft. And no, he didn’t leave to “pursue new opportunities.” He straight-up said, “Ubisoft asked me to step aside.” Translation: he got Altair’d off the roof.

Côté’s job was to chart the future of the series, stuff we won’t even see until the late 2020s. He pushed the Animus Hub, that live-service “central AC experience” idea that was supposed to tie all games together. Think “Assassin’s Creed meets Call of Duty HQ,” but with less dignity. Fans hated it, Ubisoft dialed it back… and now? He’s gone.

The Replacement Problem

So who’s running the show now? That’s where it gets spicy. Ubisoft merged Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six under a new umbrella called Vantage Studios, co-led by Charlie Guillemot, yes, the son of Ubisoft’s CEO. Nepo baby alert.

Charlie’s big claim to fame? A Web3 AI NFT dating sim platform called Unagi, where you could apparently have an AI anime girlfriend on the blockchain. Yeah. That’s the guy now overseeing the Assassin’s Creed legacy. Nothing says “back to basics” like a digital waifu startup founder.

Oh, and Tencent, the Chinese mega-corp, owns 25% of Vantage and a fat slice of Ubisoft itself. Rumor mill says they might slip in Ashraf Ismail (yes, Black Flag and Origins director, scandal and all) to steer things creatively. Because apparently, when you’re in trouble, you call the guy who’s already been canceled once.

What’s Next

In the short term, we’ll still get AC Hexe (the spooky witch-trial one), the Black Flag remake, and the mysterious multiplayer “Invictus”, which might bring Bayek and Aya back. Those are already in motion, probably safe.

But beyond that? The future’s looking less Creed, more corporate greed. Between nepotism, NFTs, and nervous execs chasing trends, this could be the start of another Ubisoft meltdown.

So yeah, Assassin’s Creed might still look alive for now, but the hidden blade is pointing inward.

TL;DR: Ubisoft replaced a veteran dev with the CEO’s crypto-loving son. What could possibly go wrong?

LATEST NEWS

QUICK LINKS

🏢 Industry & Business

• MindsEye: How ex-Grand Theft Auto boss’s grand vision became a £200 million flop

• Xbox is more expensive for developers too, as Microsoft bumps up dev kit cost

• PlayStation and Xbox could be using generative AI for game development very soon

🎮 Game Updates & Development

• Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2 delayed to fix critical performance issues

• New report claims Halo on PS5 will be revealed this week

• Lessaria | Official Trailer – It’s Out Now (Video)

⚠️ Controversies & Censorship

• Former Call of Duty director says he’s ‘immensely worried’ about the future of the series under Xbox

• Starfield is a “good game,” says former designer – but “space is inherently boring”

• Pocketpair (Palworld dev) says it won’t publish games that use generative AI

💥 Studio Drama & Hot Takes

• Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya: “Pretty graphics alone don’t do much – a good action game needs unique mechanics”

• Former Call of Duty director worried about Xbox direction – again. (Yes, he’s making headlines twice this week!)