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On: April 30, 2022

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Ubisoft’s New Spun-Off Division Is Being Led By Yves Guillemot’s Son, And He Believes GenAI Will “Revolutionize” Gaming

In: Gaming, News

Since its foundation nearly 40 years ago, Ubisoft has been a family company, with the Guillemot brothers steering the French gaming giant. That tradition is continuing with the new spun-off subsidiary of the company funded in part by Tencent, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s own son, Charlie Guillemot, being named as the co-CEO along with Ubisoft Montreal veteran Christophe Derennes.

The two men will lead the new subsidiary that aims to “accelerate the growth” of Ubisoft’s main franchises: Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry.

Charlie Guillemot got his start in gaming at Owlient in 2014, and Ubisoft later acquired the horse simulation game developer. He left Ubisoft in 2021 before rejoining the company earlier this year leading up to his promotion to co-CEO. As for Derennes, he was a co-founder of Ubisoft Montreal in 1997 and was most recently the managing director for Ubisoft’s North American operations.

Asked by Variety about concerns over nepotism, Charlie Guillemot said he “completely” understands why some would take issue with his promotion. “Yes, I’m Yves’ son. That’s not something I hide from. But my appointment isn’t only about family ties; it’s about what Ubisoft needs at this moment,” he said.

Charlie will be in charge of things like the “vision, direction, content development, and marketing” of Ubisoft’s main franchises going forward, while Derennes will oversee production, co-development, and technology.

Looking ahead, Charlie said he expects generative AI and cloud technologies to “revolutionize” game development and player experiences. “Sometimes that means shorter content, speaking to new generations that consume content in a different way. I’m convinced the industry will face new tech disruptions we can’t fully predict yet. And Ubisoft intends to play an active role in shaping that future.”

His comment about generative AI is likely to cause a stir given ongoing serious concerns expressed by developers about the role of generative AI in game development and potential job losses. A report from earlier this year said the majority of game developers worldwide use AI, despite concerns from workers. Just this week, laid-off developers at Microsoft’s Candy Crush developer said AI tools they helped create are essentially replacing them. Ubisoft has been a big believer in generative AI for years already.

Derennes, meanwhile, said video game franchises are no longer “just” games, but instead are entire “universes” and are “integral parts of the pop culture.”

In the Variety interview, Derennes said the Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, and Rainbow Six franchises have become “full-fledged universes, and we want to expand their reach, cultural impact, and relevance with new audiences even further.”

The announcement of Charlie Guillemot and Derennes as the new co-CEOs is the first phase of an ongoing rollout of announcements for the new subsidiary. “Together with Charlie, we will be working on building the leadership team of this new structure, defining roles and governance. Change is ongoing and it is very much a collective effort. While we’re happy to be able to share this milestone today, we still have some work ahead of us before the new organization is operational,” Derennes said.

In March, Ubisoft announced this new “dedicated subsidiary” that is focused on Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, with Tencent providing more than $1 billion to acquire a stake. Ubisoft said the parts of its business that are not included in this new entity, including The Division and Ghost Recon, along with development of certain new IP, will continue in parallel.

Tencent emerged as the winner following a “competitive process” under which Ubisoft considered different “strategic options.” It was previously reported that Microsoft and EA were in the mix in some capacity.

It’s been a tumultuous past year for Ubisoft even prior to this, as the company’s cost-cutting efforts have included mass layoffs and studio closures, as well as the shutdown of XDefiant.