Ubisoft has confirmed that Clint Hocking, a Ubisoft veteran who was most recently the creative director on Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, has left the company.
A spokesperson for Ubisoft told VGC that the company sincerely thanks Hocking for his “vision, creative contributions, and dedication over the years.”
“We wish him the very best in his next chapter,” Ubisoft added.
As for Codename Hexe, the game remains in development with a “seasoned team,” Ubisoft said. “The game will deliver something distinctive within the Assassin’s Creed franchise.”
Hocking is leaving Ubisoft in conjunction with Ubisoft installing new leaders for the Assassin’s Creed team at Vantage Studios, the subsidiary responsible for guiding Assassin’s Creed (and Far Cry and Rainbow Six) into the future. Jean Guesdon, the director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Origins, is taking over as creative director on Codename Hexe.
Codename Hexe remains largely a mystery, but it’s been described as “a very different type of Assassin’s Creed.” The game is reportedly focused on witchcraft and the occult, and will allow players to possess a cat.
Hocking started at Ubisoft in 2001 and was the designer for the first Splinter Cell, and the director for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2. He left in 2010 to join LucasArts, where he worked on games that were never announced. He then moved to Valve and then Amazon Game Studios, before returning to Ubisoft in 2015 to work on Watch Dogs: Legion.
It remains to be seen what Hocking may do next.
Ubisoft has undergone significant upheaval of late. The company enacted mass layoffs and canceled a handful of games as part of a dramatic cost-cutting effort. Looking ahead, Ubisoft is now working on multiple new Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed games, along with “several” new IPs.
