Prince of Persia producer becomes Ubisoft Montreal CEO

Yannis Mallat, the producer of worldwide hit Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, has been appointed chief executive officer of Ubisoft's Montreal studio following the departure of Martin Tremblay.

Mallat came to Ubisoft as a third party producer in 2000, and later held the role of executive producer for new intellectual properties. Along with Sands of Time, he worked on PoP: Warrior Within in the role of executive producer, and Rayman Advance.

In conjunction with Mallat's promotion, studio founder Sabine Hamelin has taken on the role of executive VP of corporate affairs. Hamelin will handle government and institutional relations.

"It's a real pleasure to start managing this renowned studio, one that has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years," Mallat said.

"In an increasingly competitive market, it's the innovation and creativity - dear to all players - that will determine the winner of the next generation console race. I plan on working closely with our teams to go even further in our creative development."

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot added: "The studio now has all the necessary tools to foster the teams' artistic vision, and reach its new ambition: to become the world's premier development studio not only by size but also - and most importantly - by the quality of the games developed."