Ubisoft has announced an important milestone in the roadmap of its new subsidiary — introduced on March 27 — with the appointment of Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot as co-CEOs. This new structure will be dedicated to bringing the Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six franchises to their full potential.
With complementary backgrounds, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot bring their strong industry expertise, deep knowledge of the Ubisoft ecosystem, and a shared culture of innovation to the role. Christophe co-founded Ubisoft's Montreal studio in 1997 and most recently served as Managing Director for the North American region. Charlie began his career in gaming at Owlient in 2014, a studio acquired by Ubisoft. Initially known for its browser-based free-to-play games, the studio began expanding into mobile under his leadership. He returned to Ubisoft in 2025 to join its transformation committee.
Read on to learn about their vision for the new subsidiary, how they plan to collaborate together and with the teams, and their take on the games industry at large.
Charlie and Christophe - what is your vision for this subsidiary, and what excites you about the opportunity?
Charlie Guillemot: We're lucky to have so many talented people across Ubisoft, the teams who've shaped our brands and helped Ubisoft get to where it is today. With this new subsidiary, we want to build on that strong foundation by creating the right environment for the teams working on Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six to take the creative and technical risks needed to make excellent games.
Our focus is on evolving Ubisoft's operating model to bring more focus, more autonomy, and more accountability to the teams so they can stay closely attuned to our players. Decision making will be quicker, and it will also be easier to pivot when we need to change course.
I'm excited about the clear goals we have and the freedom to change things whilst building on what already works well. To be clear, the idea is not to start over from scratch, but rather to evolve our organization and ways of working to get back on the path to success. The strength of Ubisoft lies, above all, in its range of talents — passionate people who are experts in their field, which for me is a real source of daily inspiration.
From my experience both inside and outside Ubisoft, I've learned that clarity and energy are what really matter.
Since coming back, I've had the opportunity to witness firsthand the resilience and ambition driving our evolution. It's clear across the teams: people want to move forward, simplify how we work, and help Ubisoft reach its full potential. I'm committed to doing my part in helping us move in that direction together.
Christophe Derennes: Our long-term objective with this new subsidiary is to grow these iconic brands — while remaining loyal to their DNA — into experiences that are constantly enriching and surprising to our players. When we look at the evolution of Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry since their creation, we can see that they are no longer just games, they are universes with a host of new possibilities available to us. We will keep expanding their reach by blending legacy and innovation.
In the lead-up to Ubisoft's 40th anniversary, Yves [Guillemot] has placed his trust in us to drive change while building on solid foundations. It's at the same time an immense privilege, a significant responsibility, and a formidable challenge — which is exactly what makes it so exciting. I'm thrilled to be part of this pivotal moment for the company: modernizing our structure and, ultimately, recreating the conditions for success in delivering excellent games.
How will you be dividing roles and responsibilities?
Charlie: Video game development is a collective art. Our objective is to work together with the teams who brought these brands to where they are today, and to create the right conditions to bring them to their full potential.To achieve this together with Christophe, our roles will be complementary.In a nutshell, I'll be in charge of the "what" — I will pilot the three brands, which includes their vision, direction, content development, and marketing. Christophe will oversee the "how" — production, co-development and technology.
Christophe: We complement each other. Both Charlie and I are deeply passionate about Ubisoft and its future, and we will combine our different experiences and knowledge to ensure its long-term success. To speak to Charlie's strengths; those who have met him will agree that he brings a new vision to the organization and creative direction. He is a passionate gamer and understands the new generation of players and the current issues our industry faces. His agile approach and familiarity with tech culture and innovation are strengths that we can leverage to help us adapt to the constantly evolving market.
Charlie: Christophe brings with him deep production experience, an impressive track record, and a thorough understanding of Ubisoft and its brands. We offer each other different perspectives, and it is exactly this that makes our collaboration so strong.
If we look at the video game industry as it stands today, where are the biggest opportunities for growth?
Charlie: The biggest difference today is that the market is stable, compared to the previous decades in which there were massive disruptions one after the other which brought big changes — I'm thinking of the new console releases and the arrival of online gaming, to name a few. Of course, generative AI and cloud are likely to revolutionize game creation and the player experience in the long term, but what really matters today is standing out. That means being able to offer high-quality content, and sometimes that means shorter content, speaking to new generations that consume content in a different way. I'm convinced the industry will face new tech disruptions we can't fully predict yet. And Ubisoft intends to play an active role in shaping that future.
Christophe: Video game franchises have gone beyond "just" games - they're universes, integral parts of the pop culture that resonate within the imagination of millions. Whether as references, as new ways of telling a story or as ever-expanding transmedia universes, video games' cultural impact as the tenth art is a reality. And this reality is exactly what we aim to capture with this new organization. Bringing these three iconic brands to their full potential, expanding their reach, cultural impact, and relevance with new audiences even further — to succeed in that, we need to focus on crafting experiences that players want to immerse themselves in, experiences that evolve with their feedback, and simply put, delivering high-quality games that surprise and delight.
When can we expect to hear more about the launch of the new subsidiary and the next steps?
Christophe: Together with Charlie, we will be working on building the leadership team of this new structure, defining roles and governance. Change is ongoing and it is very much a collective effort. While we're happy to be able to share this milestone today, we still have some work ahead of us before the new organization is operational.
