We genuinely do not understand what is happening around this Ubisoft game anymore, and it is hard to remember the last time we had something positive to say about it…

There is trouble around Assassin’s Creed Hexe. Barely two months ago, it looked like the highly promising project that, according to insider chatter, everyone at Ubisoft wanted to work on. In the middle of the chaos caused by the company-wide restructuring earlier this year, it seemed like one of the few bright spots in Ubisoft’s future. That changed quickly after the project lost two key creative leaders, and now it is reportedly losing another 50 developers while its former 2026 release target is drifting toward a possible late 2027 launch.

According to Insider-Gaming, the game’s new creative director, Jean Guesdon, who stepped in after Clint Hocking’s departure in February, decided to move 50 developers off the project. They have reportedly been transferred to Ubisoft’s Interproject team, which is said to be the internal holding area for staff who currently do not have a new assignment. Those employees could be reassigned elsewhere within the company, but they could also simply end up being laid off, which would hardly be surprising considering how eager the French publisher has seemed lately to reach for the downsizing button.

This move was reportedly made primarily for cost-cutting reasons, so there would be room in the game’s budget for a possible 2027 delay. Up until now, the latest release chatter around Hexe had pointed to 2026. Now the earliest possible release is June 2027, and if it slips even further during that year, the loss of 50 team members effectively buys room for that delay. At least, that is the speculation. Hexe has now lost both its original creative director with Hocking’s exit and its original game director as Benoit Richer moved to a newly founded indie studio. The situation looks even shakier now, because the project appears to be going through a major transition disturbingly close to the finish line, even if that finish line is still late 2027.

Since Guesdon’s appointment in February, some gameplay details have reportedly changed as well. We had always understood witchcraft would be one of the game’s main thematic pillars, but Guesdon is said to have decided that Hexe should take a different direction from what the team originally built. He reportedly removed the protagonist’s main cat companion and opted for a more grounded and realistic treatment of the concept. So at this point, there are not just major staff changes to deal with, but also claims pointing to significant changes in the game’s core identity, all supposedly during the final year and a half of development.

None of this suggests Ubisoft is heading toward the finish line smoothly with this game. Whatever the final result turns out to be, it will be interesting to see how these changes shaped its development.

Source: WCCFTech, Insider-Gaming