Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six Creative Director Rejoins Ubisoft

Update: An Ubisoft spokesperson has confirmed to GameSpot that Maxime Beland has returned to Ubisoft. Original story follows.

The creative director behind some big Ubisoft games is reportedly rejoining the company. Maxime Beland, who left Ubisoft in 2019 for a brief stint as creative director on Epic Games' Fortnite, is said to be coming back with a new and more influential role.

Video Games Chronicle reports that Beland will join as a vice president of the editorial team, which helps make big-picture decisions about various games across the company. This is part of a reported restructuring of the management team, following disappointing sales figures and various delays to make its lineup better differentiated. GameSpot has contacted Ubisoft for comment.

Beland was a 20-year veteran of Ubisoft, serving as creative director for Rainbow Six: Vegas, game design director for the original Assassin's Creed, and creative director for the two latest Splinter Cell games, Conviction and Blacklist. He also helped direct certain portions of recent Far Cry games.

He left Ubisoft in February 2019, and became creative director on Fortnite in March. His LinkedIn profile notes that he left Epic in October, which would leave him available for this new role at Ubisoft.

The managerial role likely means he won't be as hands-on with particular projects, so this doesn't necessarily signal a revival of Splinter Cell. Ubisoft's current slate of projects includes Watch Dogs Legion, Gods and Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine, all of which were pushed to the 2020-21 fiscal year. Skull & Bones has been pushed back to at least April 2021. No new release dates have been announced for any of these projects.