Who Is Benoit Richer, and Why His Exit Matters
Benoit Richer’s departure from Ubisoft is more than a résumé update; it removes a veteran stabiliser from Assassin’s Creed Hexe. Richer announced via LinkedIn that he has left Ubisoft Montreal to co-found Quebec indie studio Servo Games as game director. At Ubisoft, he was Hexe’s game director, responsible for turning high-level creative ideas into concrete systems, schedules, and playable builds. His history with the publisher runs deep: Richer joined Ubisoft Montreal in 2000 as a level designer, later directing Batman: Arkham Origins at WB Games Montreal before returning to Ubisoft to work on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. That mix of open-world, stealth, and narrative experience made him a logical fit for a more experimental Assassin’s Creed entry like Hexe. Losing someone at this level typically forces a project to pause, redistribute responsibilities, and potentially reassess its production roadmap, especially when a replacement has not yet been named.
Two Directors Gone in Two Months: A Red Flag for Hexe
Richer’s exit is the second major leadership change for Assassin’s Creed Hexe in as many months. Earlier this year, creative director Clint Hocking left the project during a broader period of turmoil at Ubisoft. Hocking, best known for experimental, systems-heavy games, was quickly replaced by Jean Guesdon, the director behind Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and Origins. While that appointment brings strong franchise credibility, losing both the creative director and game director in such close succession rarely signals a smooth production. Director-level staff define vision, scope, and workflow; swapping them out midstream often leads to re-evaluated priorities, rewritten story arcs, or even partial reboots. With Ubisoft yet to reveal who will step into Richer’s role, Hexe appears to be navigating a transitional phase just when it should be narrowing in on its identity and production cadence.
What We Actually Know About Assassin’s Creed Hexe
Despite the noise around departures, official information about Assassin’s Creed Hexe remains sparse. The game was unveiled in 2022 alongside the Assassin’s Creed Infinity—now Animus Hub—initiative and the title that became Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft has called Hexe a “new flagship title” and “a very different type of Assassin’s Creed game,” signaling a willingness to push beyond the open-world action-RPG template established with Origins. From the reveal’s twig-and-rune logo and “witchy” tone, fans and reporters have connected Hexe with darker, horror-adjacent storytelling, possibly involving witchcraft in the latter days of the Holy Roman Empire. Reports have floated a tentative launch window around the late decade, but Ubisoft has not officially announced a release date. For players who crave story-driven adventures with heavier atmosphere, Hexe is positioned as the franchise’s boldest tonal shift in years—if the team can maintain that vision through its current shake-ups.
Director Turnover in AAA Game Production: Reboots, Delays, or Course Corrections?
In AAA game production, losing a creative director or game director mid-development typically forces difficult decisions. Sometimes, leadership changes occur because a publisher is unhappy with progress, leading to narrowed scope, redesigned mechanics, or even partial reboots that push schedules back significantly. Other times, a new director is brought in to align a project more closely with broader franchise strategy, such as shifting tone, pacing, or RPG depth to better match audience feedback. With Assassin’s Creed Hexe, Ubisoft has publicly repositioned it as a distinct experience while also juggling other major efforts like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Black Flag Resynced. Hexe’s director-level turnover could mean rethinking how experimental or horror-leaning the game will be, especially under Jean Guesdon’s more classic Assassin’s Creed sensibilities. For now, fans should expect some timeline slippage and potential tonal adjustment rather than assuming outright cancellation.
How Hexe’s Turmoil Fits Into Assassin’s Creed’s Future
Hexe’s internal turbulence lands at a delicate moment for Assassin’s Creed’s future. The RPG-era entries—Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla—were commercially solid but polarizing for long-time fans who missed tighter, stealth-focused adventures. Mirage deliberately leaned back toward the series’ roots, while Assassin’s Creed Shadows has already drawn mixed reactions, placing extra narrative and tonal pressure on Hexe. At the same time, the franchise’s former overall boss, Marc-Alexis Côté, has left Ubisoft and is engaged in a legal dispute with the company, adding to perceptions of instability. Yet leadership changes do not always spell disaster; projects often emerge stronger after painful mid-course corrections, especially when new directors bring proven franchise experience, as Guesdon does. For players who mainly care about strong, darker story-driven adventures, the most realistic expectation is a longer wait—but not necessarily a compromised game, provided Ubisoft gives Hexe the time and clarity it now needs.