Ashraf Ismail, the Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has stepped down amid claims of infidelity.
The claims, which surfaced late last week, have been the talk of the industry along with hundreds of other reports of sexual assault, misconduct, and other forms of sexual abuse.
Writing on Twitter, Ashraf stated “I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life. The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this. There are hundreds of talented, passionate people striving to build an experience for you that do not deserve to be associated with this. I wish them all the best.”
In a statement to Eurogamer, Ubisoft stated the following:
“Ashraf Ismail is stepping down from the project to take a leave of absence. The development team is committed to delivering a great game in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.”
https://twitter.com/AshrafAIsmail/status/1275839405144657920
What this means for the game, we don’t really know, but considering that it is only a few months away, we can expect that most of the Creative Direction for the game is done and the team is just in the final stage of polishing the open-world RPG. Ashraf has led development on three of the biggest and best Assassin’s Creed titles, Black Flag, Origins, and Valhalla. We are expecting to hear more about the game at Ubisoft Forward on July 12.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases later this year for PS5 and PS4.
Source – [@AsrafAIsmail]