Assassin's Creed Creator Sues Ubisoft

[Steven Bogos]

Assassin's Creed Creator Sues Ubisoft

Patrice Desilets wants $400,000 in damages from the publisher, as well as the rights to 1666.

When we last heard from Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Desilets, he was unceremoniously being given the boot [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123826-Ubisoft-Fires-Assassins-Creed-Creator] by his employer Ubisoft. Desilets vowed "to fight Ubisoft vigorously for my rights, for my team and for my game," and he has now strapped up his boxing gloves, filing a lawsuit against the publisher for $400,000 in damages as well as the right to purchase 1666, the game he was working on when he was fired.

According to the filing, THQ's agreement with Desilets offered the developer a great deal of creative freedom that Ubisoft refused to offer, which lead to the falling out. The filing also includes quoted statements from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stating that the executive "loved 1666: Amsterdam and wanted to conduct its development."

Ubisoft offered the following statement regarding the lawsuit:

"As stated before, the acquisition of THQ Montréal in January allowed Ubisoft to welcome 170 experienced developers to our existing and renowned workforce. Unfortunately, the discussions between Patrice Desilets and Ubisoft aimed at aligning Patrice's and the studio's visions were inconclusive. We received Patrice's legal request and will address it in court. We will make no further comment at this point."

When Desilets first left Ubisoft to work for THQ several years ago, Ubisoft tried to sue THQ to prevent other employees from also switching sides. Ubisoft lost that battle, but managed to re-acquire Desilets, his team, and the 1666 game they were working on, when it bought out various THQ studios following its rival's collapse [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121680-Bankruptcy-Auction-Ends-THQ].

Ubisoft and Desilets also gave quite different accounts of Desilets' termination earlier in the year. Ubisoft claimed that Desilets left of his own accord, while Desilets assures us that he was "handed a termination notice and was unceremoniously escorted out of the building by two guards."

Source: Game Informer [http://techno.lapresse.ca/jeux-video/actualites/201306/08/01-4659149-le-createur-dassassins-creed-poursuit-ubisoft.php]

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[kajinking]

I never heard how that thing with Infintyward turned out so I'm curious how this will go.

 

[Bat Vader]

I hope Desilets wins. Besides being fired they are now trying to steal his game from him which is both wrong and very low.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

As I understand it, this second departure is a bit of petty retribution by Ubisoft who are annoyed that Desilets left for THQ in the first place. So I'm going for Desilets here, fuck Ubisoft.

 

[mechalynx]

My apologies for the lack of interest in corporate politics, but his name is Patrice? Huh... I always found that to be more of a female name and not a males name. I guess it's up there with other names such as Carroll.

He's French or French Canadian, or at least I think he is. You know, the nation that names its men Jean.

OT - I'm cheering for the guy, but I don't think he'll be seeing any money. At most he'll get a chance to buy 1666 for a million billion moneys.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

Kick their pretentious, DRM praising, PC hating, DLC loving, arrogant asses Patrice! It's about time Ubisoft got a reality check.

 

[GAunderrated]

As I understand it, this second departure is a bit of petty retribution by Ubisoft who are annoyed that Desilets left for THQ in the first place. So I'm going for Desilets here, fuck Ubisoft.

Well considering Ubisoft tried to legally stop him from leaving to THQ and lost you can assume this was a 100% petty retribution. They let patrice do the gruntwork of the pre-planning the game and now are using his direction to make his game after firing him.

Honestly I hope the used market isn't killed this generation because I want to keep my ability not to support certain publishers.

 

[iniudan]

My apologies for the lack of interest in corporate politics, but his name is Patrice? Huh... I always found that to be more of a female name and not a males name. I guess it's up there with other names such as Carroll.

Patrice actually a common male name, at least in Quebec, female version of the name would be more like Patricia.

 

[Guffe]

Only 10 posts in and this thread got derailed to if he's male or female based on his first name xD

Why is the sum he's asking for 400k? Is there some reason for it or is it just a sum he sees fitting for what's happened?

 

[Ishigami]

I hope he wins.
From the outside it just looks like a massive dick move by UbiSoft. I mean they put his game on ice because apparently outright cancelling the thing meant losing the rights to him automatically.
Isn't the first case were a corporation refuses to hand over or sell the rights to an IP to their creator while still having no plans whatsoever to do something with it.

 

[Abomination]

Only 10 posts in and this thread got derailed to if he's male or female based on his first name xD

Why is the sum he's asking for 400k? Is there some reason for it or is it just a sum he sees fitting for what's happened?

Sounds like only 1/10th of what a big corporation would usually try and charge someone else for an IP.

 

[Guffe]

Only 10 posts in and this thread got derailed to if he's male or female based on his first name xD

Why is the sum he's asking for 400k? Is there some reason for it or is it just a sum he sees fitting for what's happened?

Sounds like only 1/10th of what a big corporation would usually try and charge someone else for an IP.

I had just woke up when I wrote that so I forgott to throw in my own theroy apparently

Could it just be as simple as if he doesn't ask for crazy ass big sums the chance of getting the full amount is a lot higher? Besides he's also asking for a long term deal with wanting a part of the money they get from the game so that'll most likely make him rich by some standard at least.

 

[teebeeohh]

i hope he wins, not because i want him to stick it the man but because i think the game will be better if he works on it, since for him it's personnel while for ubisoft it's just future money.

 

[Metalrocks]

makes me rethink if i still should get AC4.
ok, will not make a huge difference but i also hope for him he will win.

 

[Hades]

I can't help but think Black flag has something to do with this all. 1666 Amsterdam will definitely focus heavily on ships, as will Black flag. Maybe Ubisoft thought stuffing 1666 into the fridge would be a good way to eliminate a possible rival.

I hope he wins. This is a very dick move and a game named after Amsterdam just has to be made!

 

[Dr.Awkward]

+1 on his side as well. Although, what gets me is how far he could have gone with this lawsuit and didn't - He's not suing for the rights of 1666, but instead for the rights to purchase them. In fact could've planned a major blow to Ubisoft if he also went for the rights to Assassin's Creed, which is Ubisoft's current cash cow!

 

[Colt47]

Honestly, I believe Disletts over Ubisoft. Companies in general are becoming increasingly run by spreadsheets and numbers instead of human beings, and if an employee is creating problems like demanding some actual creative breathing room, the guy with the MBA in the CEO position will fire him.

 

[Pebkio]

I was about to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt here until I saw that they acquired 1666 and Desilets just to fire him and take his game. I mean, the only OTHER reason to hire someone just to fire them is because you have a personal grievance, and while they certainly had cause, I still think it was so they could get the rights to this guy's game. Ubisoft can take a flying leap off the nearest cliff.