On paper it sounds amazing: a co-op action role-playing game -- not too dissimilar from Monster Hunter -- set in the knightly times of King Arthur. Codenamed 'Avalon', the project was spearheaded by former Dragon Age designer Mike Laidlaw over at Ubisoft Quebec, but when Laidlaw left the developer back in 2019, 'Avalon' was cancelled soon after.
A new Bloomberg report says that the project received criticism from then Ubisoft chief creative officer Serge Hascoët because he simply didn't like the fantastical setting. Apparently, Hascoët pushed for it to be "better than Tolkien", and the team had to try and deviate from its original Arthurian premise. But by that point, it was already too late.
We'll never know whether Avalon would have been a hit, but the report is rather damning in regards to Hascoët's management of the project. The bottom line is that one executive's taste was enough to sink the entire thing, and, presumably, give Laidlaw reason to leave the company.
Of course, forcing Avalon into the void isn't Hascoët's greatest crime. He was one of the executives who recently departed Ubisoft following reports of sexual misconduct and general workplace toxicity.
Would you have liked to see Avalon make the cut? Think about what might have been in the comments section below.
[source bloomberg.com, via destructoid.com]
Comments 19
This dude had way too much say on approving projects, I wonder if he's the reason Ubisoft games are all similar (towers, open world, lots of ??? and bloat). I hope we start seeing some change in the formula now that he's not there.
Ubisoft's upper management not showing themselves in good light lately
Something has been wrong with ubisoft for a few years now and when I watched playing hard it was clear that there is a serious problem with the hierarchy there.
Honestly I have steered clear of a lot of ubisoft games lately because they are all the same open world with nothing of value to do.
I really hope that this guys departure allows ubisoft to work with more creative freedom again.
I'd play a King Arthur game. Kinda crazy how one person's personal taste could make or break projects like this at a publisher the scale of Ubisoft.
Game sounds pretty dope
I mean we dont really know everything and many projects are cancelled all the time. I feel Jason is going after Ubi because that's what he got on his plate right now. What next? Santa Monica who cancelled that Galactica game or about Cory Barlog not wanting Kratos to have a daughter because he has a son?
I've bought more Ubi games this generation than anyone else apart from Sony, I think. Actually, maybe even including Sony. Watch Dogs 1 & 2, Far Cry 4 & 5, Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint (though cheap, and only after they gave the option to disable the looter-shooter elements), The Division 1 & 2 (the second cheap in a sale), This War of Mine, and Valiant Hearts.
I know their bigger games follow a similar formula, but it's one that I like. That said, I've never had any interest in the Assassin's Creed games.
Dang... huge Arthurian legend fan here. What a bummer.
This actually sounded like it had some potential. And makes me respect Sony even more for letting developers take chances.
@JJ2 I think that's a bit different to outing all of the horrible stuff that's been going on inside Ubisoft. Regardless of what you personally think of Schreier, there's no denying his ability to dig up information like this.
The only thing Ubisoft seem mostly driven by is open-world grindy games or co-op &/or online live-service mtx driven gameplay. Surprised they didn't greenlight this,maybe they didn't want an "outsider" intruding on the inner management sanctum if they tooled up & ended up with a successful game?
Maybe it's because it crossed with another Assassin's Creed installment...
As others say, Ubi has same plain open worlds. I'm right now some 110 hours in AC Odyssey, 100 hours took leveling and exploring plain world with repetitive locations and 10 hours in completing quests, that follows similar construction. Must say that only 3-4 locations stuck in my memory and, by now, none of quests catched my attention. It is pretty forgettable as same as AC Origins.
But back to track, I'd rather play Arthur's story in some pretty brutal single player rather than coop.
@ShogunRok Agreed. I personally don't put much faith in Schreir where opinion counts. But digging stuff like this, he's good. Although I do wonder how someone like him with access to this many insider knowledge can have such surface-level opinions about video games (in general). Most of the time, when not talking facts, he sounds like a 10-year-old who just bought a console and doesn't even know which way the disk goes in. lol
This thing about Ubisoft pisses me off. Imagine someone with that much power and say in green-lighting projects. You'd expect a committee or something on Ubisoft's scale
an Ex-exec, sorry do you have a stutter?
Seriously though, what a wealth of source material to draw from, I'm actually surprised there isn't an epic Arthurian legend game out there already.
Funny how large corporations lecture white people on racial, socioeconomic, political, blah blah blah issues... yet they are the one who are narrow-minded, sexist, racist, homophobic, ethnicist, etc. In the case of Nike, use slaves to make $700 shoes.
Ubisoft, your higher ups SUCK.
This game could've been a hit, but no, it was too fantastical.
I'm glad that executive isn't part of the company anymore, ruining potential amazing ideas.
not my kind of setting, robin hood, merlin/king arthur, boring boring boring, I'd prefer a more realistic setting or a complete fantasy setting, the wishy washy legend of robin hood, vaguely fantasy set king arthur and merlin, nope
I was looking forward to the Excalibur DLC...
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