Ubisoft’s ‘The Division’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Avatar’ studio head stepping down after 16 years

Managing director David Polfeldt will be heading into a new role after a six-month break

Ubisoft Massive’s managing director David Polfeldt has announced he will be stepping down from his role on July 1.

In a statement posted to the studio’s blog, Polfeldt said that he will be taking a six-month sabbatical before returning to Ubisoft in a new strategic role. His replacement has not been announced yet but has already been decided, according to Axios. Polfeldt’s successor will take the role in October.

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Polfeldt has been with Ubisoft for more than 16 years where, as managing director, he oversaw some of the studio’s biggest franchises, including Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

Last year he also published a book, The Dream Architects: Adventures in the Video Game Industry, providing an inside story of the booming video-game industry from the late 1990s to the present.

“When we signed Star Wars, and finally completed our beautiful building Eden in 2020, I felt an overwhelming sense of completion, as if I had achieved everything I once dreamt of,” Polfeldt said in a statement.

“Standing on the solid foundation of The Division, Avatar, Snowdrop, and Ubisoft Connect, the studio is in fantastic shape, and I am exceptionally grateful for what we have accomplished together. Before I embark on a new adventure in Ubisoft, I will try something else which is new and exciting to me: a long break!”

Polfeldt’s stepping down comes after Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was revealed during Ubisoft’s E3 presentation last week. The game will be a first-person, action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Massive in collaboration with Lightstorm Entertainment and Disney.

Ubisoft Massive is also currently working on an open-world game set in the Star Wars universe. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Star Wars is an “amazing source of motivation for our teams to innovate and push the boundaries of our medium”, and the game will be “an original Star Wars adventure that is different from anything that has been done before”.

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Both games are expected to be released across all consoles and PC.

Elsewhere, Destiny fans can now purchase an officially branded toaster after developer Bungie raised over $800,000 during a charity stream.

 

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