Ubisoft and developer Patrice Desilets come to an agreement regarding the mysterious project 1666: Amsterdam, with Desilets regaining the rights to the game.

After four years of legal strife, Ubisoft has returned the rights for 1666: Amsterdam to the game's creator, Patrice Desilets. As part of this deal, Desilets has agreed to drop his $400,000 lawsuit against Ubisoft, which he filed four years ago after he was fired and removed from the project.

Not much is known about 1666: Amsterdam, but the fact that Desilets was willing to drop his lawsuit in exchange for 1666's rights says alot about the game's potential, or at least the potential he thinks it has. Desilets had previously been developing 1666: Amsterdam under the THQ banner before the studio went under, and Ubisoft seems to have done nothing with it since acquiring the IP in 2012.

That is, until Ubisoft renewed the 1666: Amsterdam trademark just last week. The announcement that Desilets and his Panache Digital Games studio are now in possession of the 1666: Amsterdam IP comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that recent trademark renewal, and as of right now, Ubisoft still technically owns the trademark to the game. Perhaps part of the deal will see Ubisoft share some of the 1666 profits by serving as the game's publisher, but that is just speculation at this juncture, and the more likely scenario is that the trademark will transfer to Desilets or Panache.

In the meantime, fans of Desilets' past work shouldn't anticipate seeing 1666: Amsterdam anytime soon. In fact, Desilets is still busy working on the episodic game Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, with no release date for that title in sight. It's unlikely that work on 1666: Amsterdam will resume in any significant capacity until Ancestors is completed, and with brand new console hardware that wasn't available the last time the game was being developed, it could be getting a complete overhaul.

Moreover, it's possible that Ubisoft has done some secret work on the project since it fired Desilets. If so, it will be interesting to learn if Desilets keeps any work Ubisoft has done on the game, or if he decides to scrap it entirely. Ubisoft didn't seem to have a lot of confidence in the project, as the company's perceived lack of progress on the title is what allegedly prompted the firing of Desilets to begin with, so it's doubtful that there is any additional Ubisoft work for Desilets to sift through.

1666 has been described as the new Assassin's Creed in the past by Desilets, which is a lofty claim, to say the least. We still know very little about the project, but now that Desilets once again has control of 1666: Amsterdam, perhaps new information will be shared sooner rather than later.

1666: Amsterdam is in development for unspecified platforms.

Source: GameSpot