Ashraf Ismail, creative director for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, has stepped down from the Valhalla team following allegations of infidelity and inappropriate advances toward Assassin’s Creed fans significantly younger than himself.
Ismail made the announcement in a tweet shared to his since-deleted Twitter account yesterday saying, “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.”
A followup statement from Ubisoft received by Polygon adds that Ismail is “is stepping down from the project to take a leave of absence.”
Ismail’s name was one of many that came up this week as members of the game industry opened about acts of abuse, assault, or otherwise inappropriate conduct committed by notable industry figures, including several individuals at Ubisoft in particular.
In a series of tweets shared earlier this week, Ismail was accused of lying about and obscuring his marriage throughout a year-long relationship. “I don’t want other women to go through the same, and I’ve already had several tell me he did all the same stuff to them, and they’ve all been in the gaming community,” reads a tweet elaborating on those initial accusations.
“If someone is routinely seeking out partners who are 8-18 years younger than them and fans of theirs, that person is seeking out people they can take advantage of. They are abusing their position of power,“ she later tweeted. “It’s not rape, but that does not make it okay.”