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- Screenshot of Assassin's Creed Black Flag courtesy of Ubisoft and GameSpot

Veteran & Legacy: Ubisoft Appoints 2 New CEOs

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By Mollie Dominy | Last updated Jul 20, 2025 11:09 AM ET

If you remember, there was an article about Ubisoft announcing the creation of a new company with Tencent, and many of us were… concerned when they told us this new company would take over Ubisoft’s biggest franchises: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. This left all of us (and some concerned shareholders) with the question—who’s really in charge of this whole operation? Quite honestly, Tencent has the money to just bulldoze its way into calling all the shots.

Well, apparently it’s not about the game—it’s about the name. The name Guillemot, to be precise.

Charlie Guillemot Steps In

“Ubisoft announces the next step in the roadmap of its new subsidiary—introduced on March 27th—with the appointment of Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot as co-CEOs,” the company announced today. “With complementary backgrounds, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot bring strong industry expertise, deep knowledge of the Ubisoft ecosystem, and a shared culture of innovation.”

Yeah, the head-spinning new subsidiary that made a whole industry uncomfy. Tencent became Ubisoft’s second-largest shareholder (cough, the shareholders meeting), but has restrictions on influence over Ubisoft as a whole. That control is still firmly in the hands of the Guillemot family—for now.

Charlie Guillemot is the son of one of the game company’s founding brothers. Here are the company’s thoughts about the next Guillemot taking the reins:

“Charlie Guillemot has built a hybrid career at the intersection of management and innovation. He brings an entrepreneurial perspective and a sharp understanding of evolving industry dynamics and players’ expectations, shaped by his experience in game development. With a strong product mindset, deep tech culture, and a passion for games, he represents a new generation of leadership focused on innovation, quality, and putting players at the centre of decision-making.”

Elite Squad and What Came Next

Pretty words—but it doesn’t hide the fact that there’s no mention of any games Charlie worked on. Well, Mobygames does have a…small list that counts as a credit to him, where he’s listed as Studio Manager and Creative Director on Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad.

Yeah, the mobile shooter that forced an apology from Ubisoft over “insensitive and harmful” imagery about historically important events, like Black Lives Matter.

When Ubisoft pulled out of Elite Squad in July 2021 (retaliatory?), Charlie Guillemot had resigned from the game’s developer studio, Owlient, a couple of months before the announcement. (That wasn’t fishy now, was it?)

After leaving Ubisoft, he co-founded Unagi, a Web3, AI, and NFT company. Now? He’s moved up in the world. He’s in charge of Ubisoft’s biggest properties.

But What About Christophe Derennes?

Kind of makes you forget that he’s a co-CEO. Emphasis on the “co.” Just in case you got blindsided by the Guillemot name, remember that Christophe Derennes was also named CEO.

This man worked for this company for 35 years, launched and led Ubisoft Montreal, served as managing director for the North American operations, and has credits in a lot of Ubisoft games. He’s got experience on lock—and the games he’s worked on are being taken over by this new entity.

Veteran vs Legacy Name

If you’re like any other corporate worker bee (former or current), there’s probably one question on your mind: Why does this game industry veteran need Charlie as co-CEO? Ubisoft may be hoping for an “injection” of fresh perspectives that Charlie would bring to the table—to counter the stubbornness that usually comes with being a veteran of any industry.

The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has probably been said multiple times by these veterans. But is it really that? Or is it that Charlie’s last name might play a bigger role in the whole thing?

We’ll have to wait and see if “the subsidiary is building evergreen, multi-platform game ecosystems and writing the next chapter of Ubisoft’s renowned franchises,” as Ubisoft says, is successful.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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