Ubisoft has formally fired Ashraf Ismail, the Assassin’s Creed creative director who was most recently heading up the direction of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Ismail’s termination by Ubisoft was announced in a company email that didn’t offer any specifics about the matter but said that the investigation had been conducted by an external organization. Ismail previously stepped down from his role as the creative director of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla after he was faced with allegations of misconduct.
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The internal Ubisoft email announcing Ismail’s departure from the company was obtained by Kotaku. It confirmed that he’d been terminated but did not provide additional details on the situation.
“Following an investigation by an external firm, it was determined that Ashraf’s employment with Ubisoft had to be terminated,” Ubisoft’s internal email said. “We cannot provide any details about this confidential investigation.”
In a statement provided to Eurogamer, Ubisoft confirmed Ismail’s firing.
“As a result of investigations, Ashraf Ismail has been dismissed from Ubisoft and is no longer an employee,” Ubisoft said.
Ismail stepped down from his role in June to “properly deal with the personal issues” in his life, he said on Twitter. He left the role after numerous allegations were levied against him from women who said he was known to lie about his marital status and leverage his position at Ubisoft to engage in these affairs.
While Ismail is the latest Ubisoft employee higher up the ladder to be terminated, he’s not the only one. Multiple reports aimed at different Ubisoft executives came out around the same time with allegations of harassment and abuse directed at different employees. The result was the departure of multiple executives within Ubisoft.
Ismail was previously the creative director on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla before stepping down from his position. Before that, he was known for being the creative director of past Assassin’s Creed games like Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
Ubisoft released a statement following this wave of allegations some of its most well-known employees and said it’d be investigating the matters and taking actions where appropriate.
“We have started by launching investigations into the allegations with the support of specialized external consultants,” Ubisoft said previously. “Based on the outcomes, we are fully committed to taking any and all appropriate disciplinary action. As these investigations are ongoing, we can’t comment further. We are also auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior.”
