Assassin's Creed art director Raphael Lacoste leaves Ubisoft for Haven Studios

Assassin's Creed senior art director Raphael Lacoste has departed Ubisoft after over a decade to join Haven Studios. Breaking the news on Twitter, Lacoste said he  decided to leave the French publisher to "set sail on new adventures and challenges."

"It is not without emotions I have to tell you that after eight Assassin's Creed projects and 16 years at Ubisoft I have decided to set sails on new adventures and challenges," he wrote. "I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart our wonderful community and the incredible talents I’ve had the chance to collaborate with, over these amazing years."

During his tenure, Lacoste worked on flagship Assassin's Creed titles including Revelations, Black Flag, Origins, and the latest entry in the franchise, Valhalla.

Announcing his next move in a separate tweet, Lacoste said he'll be joining Jade Raymond's new opening, Haven Studios, as art director to do more "hands-on" work and reunite wth some of the original members of the Assassin's Creed development team.

"I'm excited to announce that I've joined Haven Studios as art director. One of the best experiences of my career was creating the original Assassin's Creed," he wrote. "Being more hands-on with concept art and working with many of the same core team to build a new original IP is inspiring and exciting." 

Raymond, who previously founded Ubisoft Toronto and Motive Studios, cut the ribbon on Haven in March this year. Based in Montreal, the fledgling studio is currently working on a new original franchise for PlayStation with the backing of Sony Interactive Entertainment. 

Axios points out this is the latest in a string of notable departures for Ubisoft, which is still working to address its workplace culture after a series of misconduct allegations against key staff.

The company's Montreal studio, in particular, has lost some major players, with Valhalla narrative director Darby McDevitt and game director Eric Baptist both leaving for pastures new earlier this year.

For its part, Ubisoft told Axios the departures are Montreal are "in line with video game industry averages" and that it continues to "attract, retain and foster some of the best talent in the world."