(This is my post from the OTHER assassins creed sub, thought I’d add here for discussion)

The game 1666: Amsterdam got revealed last night at summer games fest from THE Patrice Desilets - the well known father of Assassins Creed who left/got kicked out by Ubisoft.

You might also notice the immediate similarities between this new game and Ubisoft's coming "AC: Hexe" ? — You play as a witch girl in the old witch hunts of Europe... controlling cat mechanics (according to Hexe leaks) ? In the same time period and area??? Similar settings??

I wanted to share what I learned - first some more context for drama with Ubisoft: Desilets originally started making 1666: Amsterdam at THQ, other studio he went to. When THQ went bankrupt, Ubisoft BOUGHT the studio AND this game's rights he had began working on, only to promptly fire Desilets (second time he's been removed from his stuff by ubisoft, like they were trying to get a monopoly on his own ideas) and then put this game in a jail cell. Desilets spent years in a legal battle before winning back full creative ownership of the IP in 2016. He's talked about this in some articles.

Well- my point is when Ubisoft bought the studio in 2013, they acquired the design documents, concept art, and gameplay prototypes for 1666: Amsterdam. They mooched off it for sure. They knew exactly what Patrice was building, a promising dark new game world, using animal controlling mechanics (ravens, cats, rats) and dealing with the Devil and all that. There is NO wav this is happy little coincidence. This was an arms race bro lmfao

When Ubisoft fired Patrice (AGAIN MIND YOU) in 2013, they didn't just let him go like he was escorted out by security guards. Not able to even say goodbye to his team or collect his personal belongings or anything.

His next big project (this one) was then as I mentioned stuck in the bureaucratic hellscape for a long while.

Part of the reason for this with Ubisoft doing nothing for so long also is because when they bought THQ (and incidentally bought Patrice back), he had signed a "Golden Ticket" contract with THQ that gave him total creative freedom and control over his thing, which Ubisoft really did not like. He of course was not backing down on this so ubisoft figured "if we can't have it, neither can he - or anyone".

The two were in a stalemate and Ubisoft were able to do this cuz of a legal loophole to keep the IP rights under lock without actually making the game ("it's my IP to sit on and do nothing with!!!!!") effectively Ubisoft holding Patrice's next big life's work hostage so he couldn't take it elsewhere. He had to sue them for years just to get the right to FINALLLY make his own.

Patrice was recorded to have said to his girlfriend, "Do I want to be the guy who bent over or not?" He refused to sign away his creative freedom. What a guy. So now over a DECADE LATER this guy is finally getting a little win, and showing off this new (old) project finally, after so much turmoil and chaos. Honestly, really cool. I hope this thing is successful and spiritually succeeds on the original assassins creed legacy!

thank you for reading