Veteran video game designer Clint Hocking has left Ubisoft amid the company’s turbulent restructuring efforts, a new VGC report confirms. Hocking, the creative director behind Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Hexe project, has worked at the company for a quarter-century, getting his start at Ubisoft’s Montreal studio. serving as creative director on stealth hit Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005), first-person shooter Far Cry 2 (2008), and action sequel Watch Dogs: Legion (2020). Hocking previously worked at LucasArts, Valve Corporation, and Amazon Game Studios.
Ubisoft corroborated reports in a new statement:
“Clint Hocking, Creative Director on Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, will be departing Ubisoft. We sincerely thank him for his vision, creative contributions, and dedication over the years, and we wish him the very best in his next chapter. Development on Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe continues with a seasoned team. The game will deliver something distinctive within the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Jean Guesdon, Head of Content for the Assassin’s Creed brand, is now acting as the Creative Director on the project. We look forward to sharing more information in the future.“
Hocking’s departure was reportedly communicated to staff during internal meetings with the newly announced Assassin’s Creed leadership team. Following news of the creative director’s departure, Ubisoft maintains that development on Assassin’s Creed: Hexe will continue under Vantage Studios‘ new Head of Content, Jean Guesdon. Per his LinkedIn, Guesdon worked with toy company Mega Bloks in the late 1990s and early aughts until moving to an Ubisoft game designer role in November 2005, where he’s contributed to the Assassin’s Creed franchise in myriad ways since.
As Ubisoft undergoes internal upheaval amid a controversial collab with Chinese tech giant Tencent, some of the company’s tenured contributors are stepping away. Hocking’s headline-making departure follows that of former franchise lead Marc-Alexis Côté back in October 2025, though the latter “did not make the choice” to leave. “A different position was mentioned, but it did not carry the same scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years,” Côté later clarified to his followers on professional networking website LinkedIn. Côté sued Ubisoft last month, alleging “constructive dismissal.”
This is a developing story. Stick around for more news as it becomes available.
