Maxime Béland reportedly leaving Epic, returning to Ubisoft

Maxime Béland, former creative director of the Splinter Cell franchise, is reportedly set to leave Epic Games and return to Ubisoft after not even a year of working on Fortnite.

According to VGC, Béland is set to rejoin Ubisoft as part of the company’s plans to restructure its editorial team. He will reportedly act as the new vice-president of the editorial team, which will see him working on several titles within Ubisoft.

Béland had previously been with Ubisoft for 20 years, working on various titles within the company. He is perhaps most well known for his work as lead designer and creative director on Rainbow Six: Vegas and creative director on Splinter Cell: Conviction and Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

The reasoning behind Ubisoft’s restructuring is to help change up how Ubisoft’s production process works in the wake of some overwhelmingly negative responses to games such as Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Luckily, Ubisoft announced back in October that it was planning on ‘overhauling’ the game, so Ghost Recon Breakpoint should be at least getting a little better in the future.

The official MSPoweruser review for Ghost Recon Breakpoint was rather firmly against the game, giving it a rather generous 3/10 and calling it a “disgustingly predatory experience wrapped around an expansive world with the soul of a corporate PowerPoint.”

Last October, Ubisoft also announced delays of Rainbow Six Quarantine, Gods & Monsters, and Watch Dogs Legion after the “sharp downward revision” in expected revenues from Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft, said that the delays were so Ubisoft could ensure that each game’s “respective innovations are perfectly implemented so as to deliver optimal experiences for players.”