Désilets made "right decision" to quit Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed producer Vincent Pontbriand insists former colleague Patrice Désilets, the creator of the series, was "right" to quit Ubisoft.

Speaking exclusively to our sister site Eurogamer.net on Sunday during a private presentation of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Pontbriand said: "It's hard for me to talk about that as he's a friend. After 12 years at Ubisoft he just decided he needed a break, and he was six years also on Assassin's Creed.

"For a creator after a while it becomes harder to feel you have enough distance from what you're doing. Personally I think it was the right decision."

News of Désilets' shock departure broke over the weekend, eventually confirmed by Ubisoft. Sources have revealed that he was expected to attend E3 to promote Assassin's Creed Brotherhood as recently as the middle of last week, and UK staff are understood to have only learned of the situation the day before it was publicly announced.

Despite Désilets' pivotal role on the Assassin's project, Pont-Briand said he did not expect his loss to impact negatively on the series.

"That's the good news," he explained. "Assassin's Creed is a 200-strong team and success comes from some key elements, but that's not the whole story. There's a huge creative team and we'll be fine, but that's a tough one for him."

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, due 16 November, is a standalone adventure extending the story of the second game while adding multiplayer for the first time. A full sequel, Assassin's Creed III, is expected later.