Ashraf Ismail is stepping back from the development of the new Ubisoft game, and it will likely impact the result, too…

Ashraf Ismail has been a mainstay in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. He was the director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, as well as Assassin’s Creed: Origins (the latter game had him as a co-director), and now, with the Viking adventures, he was meant to lead the development until now. He announced his resignation on Twitter, but we can’t link it, as he seems to have removed his account (the handle he used is no longer found), but WCCFTech saved the two tweets in question.

„I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life. The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this. […] There are hundreds of talented, passionate people striving to build an experience for you that do not deserve to be associated with this. I wish them all the best,” Ismail wrote.

Why did he step down? Someone alleged on Twitter that he lied about his marital status while engaging in a year-long affair. This accuser has not worked with Ismail. After this happened, Ubisoft sent IGN a quite PR-ish statement: „Ashraf Ismail is stepping down from the project to take a leave of absence. The development team is committed to delivering a great game in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.” It sounds like the French publisher did not punish Ismail, who decided to leave on his accord.

In the past few days, the allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and general questionable behaviour have been brought up a lot. Techland, a Polish team, fired prolific, veteran writer Chris Avellone after multiple allegations of workplace sexual harassment, and it’s likely going to cause even more issues in Dying Light 2’s development.

So the sexually heated workplace is a thing in the gaming industry…

Source: WCCFTech

Please support our page theGeek.games on Patreon, so we can continue to write you the latest gaming, movie and tech news and reviews as an independent magazine.
Become a Patron!