Assassin's Creed Valhalla is set to be one of the biggest game releases of the year, with the game's viking setting having widespread appeal among fans. However, the game has been somewhat overshadowed by the ongoing controversies at Ubisoft, as the company deals with various sexual abuse and misconduct allegations levied at both its executives and creative talents. This has included Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail, who has now been fired from the company.
Back in June, news broke that Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail was being accused of attempting to engage in extramarital relations with a fan that he met through his position at Ubisoft. Once these accusations came to light, Ismail stepped down from his position as Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director and Ubisoft conducted an investigation into the claims. Today, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has confirmed that Ubisoft has effectively fired Ismail from the company entirely due to the results of that investigation.
Ubisoft has not revealed exactly what it discovered during the investigation. It's possible that Ismail was fired based on the conduct that saw him step down from his role as creative director, but it's also possible that other things were discovered during the investigation. It's unlikely that the results of Ubisoft's investigation will be made public, so all fans can do is speculate unless the company or Ismail release a more detailed statement on the matter.
Schreier also pointed out that Ismail wasn't fired from Ubisoft for cheating on his wife, which seems to be what some people think. It's the fact that he utilized his position as a Ubisoft representative and his role as the Assassin's Creed series creative director to attempt to enter an extramarital relationship with a fan. Obviously, this is not a good reflection on the company, and so some may not be surprised to see Ubisoft part ways with Ismail.
Even with Ismail gone, though, the Assassin's Creed franchise will still move forward. While Ismail served as director for Assassin's Creed Origins, Assassin's Creed Odyssey was spearheaded by Jonathan Dumont and Scott Philips, and so there's plenty of proven creative talent at Ubisoft that can deliver high quality, critically-acclaimed Assassin's Creed games.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how this situation impacts the reception of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's possible that the negative publicity could in turn have a negative impact on the game's sales, but that remains to be seen. Fans will find out when the Assassin's Creed Valhalla release date rolls around in November.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla launches November 17 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.