After buying THQ Montreal for $2.5 million earlier this year, you’d think that Ubisoft would be anxious to make the most of its investment and continue development on the games that already have several years worth of work behind them. Instead, the publisher fired Patrice Désilets and has now suspended development on the studio’s main title, 1666.
In an investor call, Ubisoft said that the suspension will last “for an undisclosed period of time,” and didn’t offer any further specifics. When questioned about the departure of Désilets, CEO Yves Guillemot gave the following, irrelevant reply:
We continue to recruit in our different studios to create the products that we are finishing this year and the ones that we are coming with for next year. We will continue to grow in the different big studios that we have around the world.
After he was fired, Désilets declared that Ubisoft’s actions were “baseless and without merit”, adding that he intends “to fight Ubisoft vigorously” for his rights, his team and his game.
The Montreal studio is also believed to be developing a second game, Underdog, but its fate is not known.
