Far Cry 4's Former Creative Director Blasts Ubisoft: Veterans Departing, Afraid of Innovation, Gaming Giant Closing Itself Off

Alex Hutchinson, the creative director behind Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed III, recently gave PC Gamer a rare and candid critique of Ubisoft — in his view, the once-dominant open-world giant has trapped itself squarely in its comfort zone.

Hutchinson attributes Ubisoft's struggles directly to the mass exodus of veteran talent. After 2017, a wave of senior developers departed to found independent studios. The damage from this talent gap runs deeper still: the rise of remote work has worsened the knowledge-transfer crisis, leaving newcomers unable to learn from experienced colleagues nearby, while management has grown increasingly risk-averse under pressure — ambitious new projects have virtually no room to breathe unless they're sequels to established franchises like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, or Rainbow Six.

He cited Pioneer as a prime example — the space game widely dubbed "Ubisoft's No Man's Sky," which had even appeared in trailers within other games, yet ultimately met the axe.

To pull itself out of its slump, Ubisoft launched a sweeping restructuring plan: closing multiple offices, canceling six games — including the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake — and scrapping three new IP projects.

Post-restructuring, Ubisoft is betting on a new framework built around five independent "creative studios," in an attempt to break through years of accumulated bureaucracy and restore a sense of identity to its games. Whether this self-reinvention succeeds may only become clear when the next major new release hits shelves.