After years of mixed reception and shifting creative direction, Ubisoft is turning to familiar faces to bring the Assassin’s Creed franchise back to its glory days.
Ubisoft subsidiary Vantage Studios has appointed three longtime series veterans to lead the brand into its next chapter, signaling a renewed focus on identity, consistency, and long-term vision. According to the company blog, Martin Schelling has been named Head of Assassin’s Creed Brand, overseeing overall strategy and long-term direction. He previously played key roles on some of the franchise’s most defining entries, including Revelations, Black Flag, Origins, and Valhalla.
Most recently, he served as Ubisoft’s Chief Production Officer, where he worked on streamlining development processes across the company’s portfolio.
Next up, Jean Guesdon steps in as Head of Content. A veteran designer whose credits trace back to the 2007 original Assassin’s Creed, Guesdon is best known for serving as creative director on Black Flag and Origins. In his new role, he will guide the series’ creative direction while ensuring it stays true to what Ubisoft calls its “core DNA”.
Last but not least, François de Billy has been appointed Head of Production Excellence. Having served as Production Director on both Origins and Valhalla, he is recognized internally for optimizing workflows and reducing friction across complex projects. His focus will be on strengthening execution and production consistency across the brand.
The trio has collaborated on multiple flagship entries over the years, combining creative leadership and production oversight during periods when Assassin’s Creed both reinvented itself as a cultural phenomenon and reached new commercial heights.
Assassin’s Creed first rose to prominence in 2007 with its blend of historical fiction, stealth gameplay, and parkour traversal, where players took their leap of faith and had a blast with its gameplay and storytelling. Annual releases through the early 2010s turned it into one of Ubisoft’s defining properties, with Black Flag in 2013 widely praised for its naval combat, among other good things.
However, franchise fatigue began to set in. Technical issues surrounding Assassin’s Creed Unity and criticism of repetitive design sparked debate about the series’ direction. Ubisoft responded with a soft reboot in 2017’s Origins, shifting toward a more RPG-driven formula. That change reinvigorated sales, but it also divided longtime fans who preferred the earlier stealth-focused structure. There were also complaints about the open-world formula that the franchise adopted in the recent games.
The latest entries have continued to perform commercially, yet community conversations have increasingly centered on open-world bloat, pacing concerns, and identity questions. At the same time, Ubisoft as a company has faced restructuring, cost reductions, and pressure from investors, creating urgency around its biggest franchises.
Bringing back veteran talent to reignite past success, a playbook that recently paid off for Hytale during its strong early access debut under Hypixel Studios.
For a franchise now approaching two decades, the stakes are clear. Assassin’s Creed remains one of Ubisoft’s most valuable IPs. By placing veterans who helped shape its most celebrated eras back at the helm, Ubisoft is signaling that the path forward will lie in remembering what made the series resonate in the first place.
The company’s CEO has already confirmed in a recent interview that multiple new entries are in development, suggesting Ubisoft is pairing a larger pipeline with a renewed focus on the tighter creative direction that once defined the franchise.
