Led by Christophe Derennes, former General Director of Ubisoft North America, and Charlie Guillemot, son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, Vantage Studios will be responsible for three of Ubisoft’s video game franchises, namely Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. The team itself is made up of “thousands” of developers from Ubisoft studios in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia, with sources estimating the total staff at around 2,300.
The launch of the studio also marks the first step in Ubisoft’s plan to reorganize the entire company into so-called “Creative Houses” – with Vantage Studios being the first – where every such house takes control over some of Ubi’s franchises. In the event of other Creative Houses following the same legal structure as the one formed in collaboration with Tencent, it’s possible that in half a decade, Ubisoft may lose all creative control over their franchises, making the future of dozens of game series beloved by millions uncertain.