Assassin's Creed Valhalla art director departs studio after 16 years

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Raphael Lacoste is the latest departure from Ubisoft Montreal

Assassins Creed Valhalla
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Long-time Assassin's Creed art director has departed Ubisoft after 16 years at the company.

Just below, you can see a tweet from Raphael Lacoste published yesterday on July 21, announcing that he would be stepping away from working at Ubisoft after over 16 years. As Lacoste's tweet shows, he's worked with over eight titular Assassin's over the course of his storied years at Ubisoft, as well as dabbling in the Prince of Persia franchise.

As for where Lacoste is headed, he's actually going off to work with Jade Raymond at Haven Studios in Montreal, Canada. Earlier this year, Raymond announced the founding of Haven Studios after her departure from Google, and immediately signed a deal with Sony to develop games exclusively for PlayStation. Lacoste is heading to Haven to help shape up the art for the Raymond-led game, which is reportedly a live service game.

Lacoste leaving Ubisoft Montreal is actually the third high-profile departure from the studios this year. Back in March 2021, Assassin's Creed Valhalla lead writer Darby McDevitt announced he would be leaving the studio after a decade of working at the developer. For his part, McDevitt has joined a studio called iLLOGIKA, a developer also based in Montreal that has a history of helping out with games like Hitman GO and Cuphead.

Just last month in June, Assassin's Creed Valhalla game director Eric Baptizat announced he would also be departing the developer. Baptizat immediately revealed he would be joining EA's Motive studio, but he didn't say what he'd be working on, leaving some to suspect that the former Valhalla director would be helping shape the rumored Dead Space revival.

As for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the game soldiers on with post-launch content after the departures of Lacoste, McDevitt, and Baptizat. May 2021 saw the launch of the Wrath of the Druids DLC, which took players on a brand new adventure to Ireland, and later this Summer, the Siege of Paris expansion will debut for all players who own the expansion pass. As of right now, it remains to be seen how, of if at all, the game will be supported past this Summer.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.