Tuesday, February 24th 2026
Ubisoft Puts Assassin's Creed Black Flag Veterans at Ship's Helm
Shortly after news broke that Ubisoft is, in fact, working on "several" Assassin's Creed launches after its controversial Creative Houses reshuffle, the company has published an official Reddit post detailing the newly appointed lead for the Assassin's Creed franchise as well as giving gamers a taste of what's in-store for the future of the franchise. The most notable take-away from the announcement is that the Assassin's Creed franchise will be led by Martin Schelling as Head of Brand, Jean Guesdon as Head of Content, and François De Billy as Head of Production Excellence.
All three members of the Assassin's Creed leadership team have previously worked on Assassin's Creed games: Schelling was Producer and Senior Producer of Black Flag, Origins, Revelations, and Valhalla; Guesdon was Creative Director of Black Flag and Origins, among other franchise credits; and De Billy served in a number of roles on Revelations and Black Flag and as Production Director on Origins and Valhalla. Ubisoft says the new team "marks the beginning of an exciting and ambitious new chapter" for the franchise, although it will be picking up where previous leaders left off in the aforementioned Assassin's Creed projects Ubisoft already has in the works. Appropriately, given the history, it seems as though the first Assassin's Creed project that will be released after the new leaders take over is the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake. That said, the remake is likely all but complete, especially when it comes to more meaningful gameplay and artistic elements, meaning the new team likely won't have contributed much to that, if anything.
The full announcement reads:
Source:
u/Ubi-AssassinsCreed on Reddit
All three members of the Assassin's Creed leadership team have previously worked on Assassin's Creed games: Schelling was Producer and Senior Producer of Black Flag, Origins, Revelations, and Valhalla; Guesdon was Creative Director of Black Flag and Origins, among other franchise credits; and De Billy served in a number of roles on Revelations and Black Flag and as Production Director on Origins and Valhalla. Ubisoft says the new team "marks the beginning of an exciting and ambitious new chapter" for the franchise, although it will be picking up where previous leaders left off in the aforementioned Assassin's Creed projects Ubisoft already has in the works. Appropriately, given the history, it seems as though the first Assassin's Creed project that will be released after the new leaders take over is the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake. That said, the remake is likely all but complete, especially when it comes to more meaningful gameplay and artistic elements, meaning the new team likely won't have contributed much to that, if anything.
Hello everyone,
We want to take a moment to share some important updates about the future of Assassin's Creed.
We know that what comes next has been a big topic within the community lately, and today, we can finally share some updates, starting with the introduction of newcomers to the leadership team that will shape the future of the franchise.
Meet our trio of experts of the series, who will bring their expertise, knowledge, and passion to guide Assassin's Creed into its next chapter:Martin, Jean, and François have a long history of making Assassin's Creed games, including some of the series' most memorable titles, and seeing them reunited marks the beginning of an exciting and ambitious new chapter for AC.
- Martin Schelling is appointed Head of Brand. He will lead the franchise team, as well as the overall strategy, long-term vision, and development of Assassin's Creed. Martin previously worked as a Producer and Senior Producer on many defining titles in the series, including Revelations, Black Flag, Origins, and Valhalla.
- Jean Guesdon is appointed Head of Content. He will lead the creative direction of the franchise, support ongoing projects, and help shape the franchise's future while ensuring it remains true to its DNA. You probably remember Jean for his work as Creative Director on Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Origins. But his history with the series goes all the way back to Assassin's Creed II. His contribution to the brand is immense, and we are delighted to see him return to help shape this next exciting chapter.
- François De Billy becomes Head of Production Excellence. He will support our teams by strengthening production practices and execution across the franchise. François recently worked as Senior Director, Global Production, and contributed to several major Assassin's Creed titles, including Revelations and Black Flag, and more recently as Production Director on AC Origins and AC Valhalla.
They will form the Franchise leadership team with Andrée-Anne Boisvert, Producer for Assassin's Creed crossbrand initiatives and Head of Technological Excellence, and Lionel Hiller, VP Brand and Go-to-Market Strategy.
Before we close, Jean wanted to share a personal message directly with you:
"It is wonderful to be back after all these years. Assassin's Creed has been a defining part of my professional life and being back feels like coming home. This universe, these characters, these worlds, and of course the community have always meant so much to me.
I'm especially grateful to be sharing this journey with all of you again, and look forward to sharing more about the next steps ahead for the franchise.
Until then....
Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted."
14 Comments on Ubisoft Puts Assassin's Creed Black Flag Veterans at Ship's Helm
Games needs some really good story tellers, really lost it after the 3rd one.
1st one was ok, felt pretty empty to me liked the second the most.
Better wait and see if i need to side step the turd or not, mean while shut up and get it done already.
Anyways, AC: Black Flag was one of my favourites, would be great to have a proper remake. I hope they remember that one of the things that made it so great was PhysX, the waves, the smoke from cannon fire, the mist, wood splintering from cannon balls, and so forth. It's going to be tough to live up to. Anyways, I will wait for a proper in-depth review to make sure I get better than what we had. Ubisoft is renowned for wanting to make a quick buck from prior franchise blockbusters.
A breakdown: www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/valve-steam-deck-2-not-until-50-performance-uplift.342876/#post-5620275
And then the external actually means they're just merging teams together from their existing dev studios and family member Yves is leading it :D
Do you do some cognitive processing while you read, or is that lost on you?
But hey... at least they're going to work on something revolutionary, a project that will TRULY put AC and Ubisoft back on the map! A....
Black Flag Remake. I think I'll pre order five
Lots of franchises do well. And when they do too well, you get too much of it, and it turns into shit. Less is more. Can be a franchise just fine though. Look at Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest. Star Trek. Star Wars... it went well for a long time and some still go well, some have devolved into nonsense because they've just been done to death (Star Wars being a great example of treading that line and crossing it).
I think if they focus on this on a game with more real world story and conclude the retarded DNA Animus VR thing, at least we will have 1 final good game.