Patrice Désilets

Patrice Désilets
Biographical Information
Name	Patrice Désilets
Birthplace	Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada
Born date	May 9, 1974
Series information
Appearances	None
Character	None

Patrice Désilets is a French Canadian Game Designer and head of Panache Digital Games. A former developer at Ubisoft Montreal, Désilets was the creative director of the 2003 game, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and later Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II. He worked briefly on Assassin's Creed Brotherhood before he departed from Ubisoft Montreal in 2010 to work for THQ Games. When THQ's assets were bought by Ubisoft following the collapse of their business, Désilets worked briefly with Ubisoft again. He was later "terminated without cause" in 2013.

Biography

Patrice Désilets became a employee of Ubisoft Montreal July 2, 1972 shortly after the company established a subsidiary in Canada. Coming from a background in film, he has used his creative vision to shape games in which he has taken a creative lead including Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with whom he and his team collaborated with Prince of Persia creator, Jordan Mechner, to create the game. His desire to create a spin-off of The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: Assassins, led to the creation of 2007's Assassin's Creed and its 2009 sequel Assassin's Creed II. The success of both games established a longstanding and annual franchise that influenced later Ubisoft games, such as Far Cry 3, Watch_Dogs and later entries in the Splinter Cell franchise.

Désilets other credits include Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Disney's Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers and Hype: The Time Quest.

Complications with Ubisoft

In June of 2010, Désilets left Ubisoft. The company confirmed the developer's departure June 13, 2010 in an interview with Game Informer. According to Ubisoft Montreal, Désilets's role int he development of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was "essentially done" and he would not be involved with the completion of the game.

During his separation from Ubisoft, Désilets joined THQ's recently developed Montreal Based studio in the Summer of 2011. Two years later, January 2013, THQ Montreal was sold off to Ubisoft in an auction. Again under the employ of Ubisoft, Désilets was working on a new project, amsterdam: 1666 and Underdog. Désilets described the project as the culmination his 15 years of experience in video games.

May 7, 2013, Désilets was fired from Ubisoft. His departure was advertised by the company as amicable on account of an inability to merge "studio visions". However, when asked why, Désilets replied, "Contrary to any statements made earlier today, this morning I was terminated by Ubisoft. I was notified of this termination in person, handed a termination notice and was unceremoniously escorted out of the building by two guards without being able to say goodbye to my team or collect my personal belongings. This was not my decision. Ubisoft's actions are baseless and without merit. I intend to fight Ubisoft vigorously for my rights, for my team and for my game."

New Ventures

December 14, 2014, Désilets and his development team launched studio in Montreal called "Panache Digital Games".

In February 15, 2015, Désilets announced, that he would present "Reboot Develop 2015". On April 23, 2015, at the "Reboot Develop 2015" Désilets and his team announced the title of their first game developed and published by Panache Digital Games Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, a third person action-adventure survival episodic game.

In April 2016, Désilets announced that he had gained back the rights to 1666, and settled the lawsuit with Ubisoft. He further added that 1666 would not be his priority, and that he intended to focus on and complete Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey first.