Jean-Francois Boivin Follows Desilets Out of the Door at Ubisoft

22
Richard Walker

Following the firing of Patrice Désilets at Ubisoft earlier in the week, former Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Producer Jean-Francois Boivin has also been let go from the company, as tweeted by Désilets himself.

Boivin moved across to his former employer Ubisoft having departed to the now defunct THQ Montreal with Désilets back in 2010. Both went over to Ubisoft together, and both have now been fired, and will no longer be working on the projects they had started during their time with THQ.

The future of both 1666 and Underdog remains uncertain, although it appears that Ubisoft still owns the IPs, since they were acquired along with 170 THQ Montreal staff. Boivin had been Senior Producer on the 'triple-A' projects.

Comments
22
  • Ubisoft... What have you been doing??
  • Best wishes finding a new gig.
  • @1 becoming like EA & Actvision (cash cows) seriously they are getting rid of some great talent
  • revenge firings for leaving the first time.
  • The series has pretty much gone in decline since ACB... so I guess now I know why...
  • I smell a rat. Ubi, start explaining.
  • This is all starting to look particularly vicious isn't it?
  • @3 You've probably never even heard of these two gentleman until now, so please Stfu.
  • Maybe these guys just aren't good enough at their jobs, and that's why THQ went bust... Just a guess
  • @8 Now you protecting Ubi$oft? OT: Poor guys. He was a Senior Producer of 3 AAA projects. Stupid Ubisoft. Only game I'm probably getting from them is Watch Dogs. Everything else will probably suck, along with AC4: Black Flag.
  • Great. Remove the who made Assassin's Creed what it is. WTH Ubisoft? Guess we get to look forward to more copy/paste sequels every year. AC used to be my favorite series, but it's done nothing but go down hill since Brotherhood.
  • @10, He's not protecting Ubisoft, he's merely pointing out that this kid doesn't know who they are. And "becoming" EA and Activision? Sure, these companies have been around longer, doing the same shenanigans but, overall, Ubisoft has always been like these two companies at their worst. Anyone who can't see that, like #3, isn't in the know and is liable to get told at some point.
  • Why is Ubisoft doing this? Are they thinking like: "Those two dudes went to THQ...traitors...now they are coming back to us because THQ isn`t anymore..now it`s time for revenge! let`s fire them for leaving us! If it was this way, then i will buy AC4. But if they just fired them like doggs from the company then i won`t buy any AC Game anymore, because i hate it, when some fat company bosses are firing the person who brought the success to the company. This happened to other games to (Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden). It`s always the same: Someone comes up with a good idea for a new game, he is responsible for creating the game, after the huge success of this game ,the company bosses are always like: "Hmm..how can we get more money with this successfull game-ip now?...muahaha i will do everything to get more money, i don`t care about the feelings of the guy, who was responsible for the success, i will fire him as soon as i find a way to milk this game to death! Muahaha! I don`t know if anybody here can understand what i mean, (i realy hope), but that`s what i feel.
  • @10 How in anyway am I protecting Ubisoft, you fool? Thank you for not being daft like him, #12.
  • They broke the contracts they had with ubisoft when they went to thq and that why they were fired for thq montreal mergered into ubi montreal, so this was their way of saying your not welcome back and for your contract voilation you will creative control on your game
  • Regardless of the reasoning behind this, it's a dick move by Ubisoft. Buying out the rights to these brand new creative properties, and then firing the people responsible for creating them. No explanation they could offer up would justify what's going on here. Like so many "kids" out there, I have no problem at all with the current formula they're following for Assassin's Creed. Sure, it's largely more of the same each year. But there are worthwhile innovations with each new installment. The gameplay is as great as it's ever been. And the stories they tell are entertaining enough to keep me coming back. So this news won't at all affect my decision to purchase Black Flag. Or other worthwhile titles like Watchdogs. But... Unless they can prove that these newly acquired properties are better off without those responsible for creating them, I won't be supporting any of them. It's just too hard to justify this kind of behavior on Ubi's part by supporting "hijacked" franchises.
  • It's amazing to see so many opinions based on opinions. I remember when desilets(sp) origionally left, after ac2. There was no broken contracts I was aware of. He finished the game, and moved on . It wasn't even untill much later, he revealed he had issues with where corporate wanted the series to go, namely how the first game had more of a mystery and discovery feel, and 2 was heavier with the hand holding. Being honest, I loved the series up untill recently. "revelations" wasn't really a revelation by any stretch of the word, because the ending of the first game had all those clues hidden in the messages on the walls, barring Minerva and co. Appearing in 2. Point is, when they acquired thq, they made a public statement about both this guy and desilets, about welcoming them back, and how there were no bad terms. the. this happens, and with no real explanation. I don't recall anyone taking the company that male LA Noir's side when all that ull came to light, and that basically sums up how I feel about this, though its the absence of a reason that's the biggest issue.
  • Most likely they aren't very good at their jobs. I think that's obvious. Good games sell. They did not produce good games (or at least their efforts did not go toward parts of games that made them good) and thus, they are now gone. No one knows who these guys are. Why you're all assuming they're anything special is beyond me. There's thousands of people just like them in the games industry. Ubisoft probably employs hundreds. It's no problem.
  • #13 In all my time working in the corporate world, I have never had a boss twiddle his thumbs while coming up with a greedy plan and screaming "Muhahaha." But if they ever do, that will be the greatest day ever. In terms of my opinion on the firings, think about this from the corporate perspective even if I don't agree with it. I have personally been shot down for five management promotions in my life because the company I worked for said that my creativity hindered my ability to manage people even though at three of those jobs I was acting as a quasi-manager already. The real problem was that I did not care about how the company did economically. I always believe if you put out a good product, the people will buy it. I am not going to ruin someone's life by slashing their hours cause profits are down 1% because the shitty management at the top of the corporation makes terrible decisions. Just ask THQ how bad management worked out for them. I would guess that Ubisoft wanted to franchise or nickel and dime people with these new games. They made the investment. Because of this and the previous bad blood, Desilets and Boivin had to go. Just giving my two cents on this.
  • well, i am happy to say i will never ever PAY for a game by ubisoft. i will do everything i can to 'acquire' their games in whatever way i can. this whole business stinks and i refuse to pay for managements' 150% wage bonus this year or whatever. that's what trrents are for, right? i heard they used 2 sec guards to escort Desilets out of the building wo letting him say bye to his colleagues or get his personal gear. sounds like they let him get settled, leave all his concepts and ideas on USB drives and laptop etcm then WHAM! out the building whilst they rifle thru his HDDs for all his ideas. very dodgy. but what can u expect from greedy fucks that r thinkin of $ at any cost. steal another's guys concepts whilst he's locked out of the building? VERY suspicious.
  • and before anybody says "that kinda thing doesn't happen".. it REALLY does. we are talking about potentially $billions for a game or even a new franchise! after all, the original AC came from Desilet, why not a new concept? Desilet, really, has been rather naive to think UBI would take him back w a slap on the back and all is forgiven. let's hope he didn't have any SERIOUS ideas on any of his storage devices before he was dragged out the building [i mean, what could make a company treat an ex worker so badly?]. these companies are HUGE. does anybody seriously think they don't use ANY means to achieve extra dollars? industrial espionage in a games industry worth billions is not unusual. oh, and did anyone notice the rather attractive lady talking about herself and her team about 6 hours after Desilet's firing? damage control anyone?
  • Guessing someone thought they were indispensible...and was wrong.
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