Patrice Désilets (born 9 May 1974) is a Canadian

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

best known for creating the ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'' series. He served as creative director for ''

'', '' Assassin's Creed II'', and '' Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood''. He is also known for being the director of

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

's '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time''. In 2014, he founded the Montreal-based indie studio Panache Digital Games, where he worked on the game '' Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey''.

Biography

Born in 1974 at

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal, located roughly halfway between Montreal and the Canada–United States border with the state of Vermont. It is sit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Désilets is the son of Jacques Désilets, mathematician and director of

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...

, and Luce de Bellefeuille, Director General of the Secretariat for International Adoption. In 1996, Désilets earned his bachelor's degree in film studies and literature at

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, to which time prior, he was enrolled at the Collège Édouard-Montpetit. Coming from a background in film, he has used his creative vision to shape games in which he has taken a creative lead including 2007's ''

'' and its 2009 sequel '' Assassin's Creed II''. Désilets other credits include '' Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood'', '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'', '' Disney's Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers'', and '' Hype: The Time Quest''.

Departure from Ubisoft

Désilets left Ubisoft in June 2010, which was confirmed by the company on June 13, 2010, looking for more creative independence. After one year away from the gaming industry, Patrice Désilets officially returned by joining

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

as Creative Director at their new Montreal based studio in June 2011. For two years at THQ Montreal, Désilets was working on a new project titled ''1666 Amsterdam'', leading a team of close to fifty people. THQ declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the United States in December 2012; in January 2013, THQ Montreal was sold off to Ubisoft in an auction. Désilets was subsequently let go by Ubisoft on May 7, 2013, when the two parties could not agree on the contract terms. When asked about it, Désilets said, "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." Following this, Désilets and Ubisoft came to an agreement in April 2016 in which Désilets won back all creative rights to ''1666 Amsterdam''.

Panache Digital Games

On December 14, 2014, Désilets and his team launched a new game development studio in Montreal called Panache Digital Games. They released their first project, '' Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey'' in 2019.

Ludography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desilets, Patrice 1974 births Living people People from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Canadian video game designers Ubisoft people