Alex Hutchinson Leaves Ubisoft Montreal to Form New Indie Studio

Bohs Hansen / 8 years ago

Assassin’s Creed 3 and Far Cry 4 creative director Alex Hutchinson has announced his departure from Ubisoft Montreal in order to start a new independent game studio. Alex Hutchinson has teamed up with an old EA Montreal colleague, Reid Schneider, to launch Typhoon Studios. Schneider’s credits include Mad Max, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Both developers also worked on Army of Two before moving on to other Montreal studios.

There is nothing known about the reasons for the split, whether it just was time for them to explore new territories or whether there were some issues with Ubisoft. As we all know, Assassin’s Creed is on a break from the yearly release schedule with no game last year. There have been rumours about a new Assassin’s Creed game to be released later this year, but nothing has been officially confirmed. We’ve seen a few screenshots from what could be the next game, set in Egypt, and a retailer that believes it to be released this year too. But that might just be rumours and hopes. It’s also been a long time since we’ve heard anything about the Far Cry franchise.

So! I left Ubisoft after 7 years. Extremely proud of all we achieved on Far Cry and Assassins but very excited to build something new.

— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) April 7, 2017

Myself, @rws360 and some other wonderful people have founded a brand new company: Typhoon Studios.

— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) April 7, 2017

Building a new gaming studio takes time and we shouldn’t expect any game announcements from them in the near future. They’re still busy building everything, getting their coffee maker, and putting together Ikea furniture.

Probably won't have much to announce in the near future as we hire, build our studio, buy a coffee machine and build Ikea furniture but…

— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) April 7, 2017

Hutchinson and Schneider’s experience and knowledge along with the statement that they are working on “a brand net world to inflict on all” sound promising. A possible all new open world game with a new storyline and ideas. We probably shouldn’t expect to hear more for the foreseeable future, but it could become great when we do. Maybe E3 2018. For now, we have E3 2017 to look forward to and whether Ubisoft will show a new Assassin’s Creed game or not.