Assassin’s Creed is losing its narrative director, as longtime story lead Darby McDevitt has announced that he’s leaving Ubisoft for “a new adventure.” McDevitt has been with Ubisoft for over a decade, and has actually been working with the Assassin’s Creed series even longer. Most recently, he served as the narrative director for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
“Today is my last day at Ubisoft Montreal,” McDevitt says in a tweet. “After a decade of working with brilliant people, creating stories and characters for an incredible series, and interacting with our wonderful fans, I have decided to set forth on a new adventure.” No details on what that next project is just yet, but McDevitt also has experience in music, filmmaking, and non-games writing, so there’s always a possibility that this next step will be outside the game industry.
McDevitt started working on the Assassin’s Creed series with Foundation 9 Entertainment, writing for the Bloodlines and Discovery spin-offs on portable machines. From there, he hopped to Ubisoft proper, and served as lead scriptwriter on both Revelations and Black Flag. He continued to help shape the narrative of the series up through the current reboot into RPG games.
The official Assassin’s Creed account provided a lovely little goodbye video featuring McDevitt’s work, too.
Thank you @DarbyMcDevitt for your immense contribution to the brand. The stories and characters you created will always be cherished by the Assassin's Creed community. May the winds blow in your favor on your next journey! pic.twitter.com/fTWQw7rRN1
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 26, 2021
“A special thanks to all the fans and content creators that have supported and expanded on our work over the years,” McDevitt says. “Thank you for your kind attention! You have my deepest respect and admiration. It has been the honor of a lifetime to get to know so many of you.”