After leaving Ubisoft to launch an anime avatar AI/NFT startup, Yves Guillemot's son returns to take charge of its new Tencent-backed Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow 6 subsidiary

When Ubisoft and Tencent announced the creation of a new company that will take control of Ubi's Big Three—Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six—the obvious question, for me at least, was, who's really going to be in charge here? Ubisoft has the games, yes, but Tencent has the money. Today we got our answer, and it turns out that it's not the games that really matter, but the name—and that name is Guillemot.

"Ubisoft announces the next step in the roadmap of its new subsidiary—introduced on March 27th—with the appointment of Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot as co-CEOs," the company announced today. "With complementary backgrounds, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot bring strong industry expertise, deep knowledge of the Ubisoft ecosystem, and a shared culture of innovation."

That new subsidiary is the result of talks between Ubisoft and Tencent, spurred by Ubisoft's potentially existential struggles and Tencent's urge to own a piece of pretty much everything. Tencent is already Ubisoft's second-largest shareholder, but is restricted in how much influence it has over the company, which remains firmly under the control of the Guillemot family.

Charlie is not one of the five Guillemot brothers who founded Ubisoft—Christian, Claude, Gerard, Michel, and Yves—but rather the son of Yves, Ubisoft's longtime CEO. Here's what Ubisoft says Charlie brings to table, aside from being a nepo baby:

"Charlie Guillemot has built a hybrid career at the intersection of management and innovation. He brings an entrepreneurial perspective and a sharp understanding of evolving industry dynamics and players’ expectations, shaped by his experience in game development. With a strong product mindset, deep tech culture, and a passion for games, he represents a new generation of leadership focused on innovation, quality, and putting players at the centre of decision-making."

The press release doesn't mention any specific games Charlie has worked on previously, but he does have at least one credit to his name: Mobygames lists his as studio manager and creative director on Tom Clancy's Elite Squad, a mobile shooter best remembered for forcing an apology from Ubisoft over its "insensitive and harmful" use of imagery related to historically important movements including Black Lives Matter.

Ubisoft pulled the plug on Elite Squad in July 2021, less than a year after it launched; Charlie Guillemot had resigned from Ubisoft's Owlient studio, the game's developer, a couple months prior to that announcement. After leaving Ubisoft, he co-founded Unagi, a Web3 gaming, AI, and NFT company. And now he's in charge of Ubisoft's biggest properties.

Not alone, to be clear, and I don't mean to sell Christophe Derennes short in any way. Derennes has been with Ubisoft for more than 35 years, "launched and led" Ubisoft Montreal, served as managing director of Ubisoft's operations in North America, and has credits on dozens of Ubisoft games. He's clearly an experienced hand and has a long history with the games being taken over by this new entity.

That could lead one to wonder: Why does he need Charlie as co-CEO? It's possible that Ubisoft hopes the injection of (relatively) young blood with fresh perspectives will counterbalance any potential "stuck in his ways" approach of a guy who's been around for decades—a Chico Gonzalez to Derenne's Dirty Harry Callahan, if you will.

In fact, Ubisoft said as much in today's announcement: "Returning to Ubisoft in 2025 to join its internal transformation committee, Charlie has brought a fresh perspective, in-depth knowledge of the industry and a commitment to combining innovation with a player-first mindset."

So yeah, that might be it. Might be something else, too. His name just has a certain je ne sais quoi to it, doesn't it?

Whatever the reason for the pairing, Guillemot and Derennes "will lead the subsidiary in building evergreen, multi-platform game ecosystems and writing the next chapter of Ubisoft’s renowned franchises," Ubisoft said.

"Backed by growing investments and Tencent’s expertise as a core strategic partner, it will give development teams greater autonomy and agility to fully unlock the potential of these iconic games, while shaping the next generation of player experiences."

Tencent's investment in the new Ubisoft subsidiary is expected to be concluded by the end of 2025, but remains subject to regulatory approval.