Claude Guillemot, one of Ubisoft’s founders, passed away on Saturday in a plane crash in France, according to the Associated Press. He was reportedly in a twin-motor Cessna 421 aircraft alongside a flight instructor, who also died in the accident. In a statement to the Associated Press, Mayor Franck Louvrier said the aircraft went down in a field just before landing at La Baule-Escoublac Airport, along the Atlantic coast.
“Ubisoft was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Claude Guillemot, co-founder of the group and chairman of Guillemot Corp., in an accident,” a spokesperson for Ubisoft said in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz and other outlets on Saturday. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
The five Guillemot brothers founded Ubisoft back in 1986, though Claude has spent more time as the president and CEO of Guillemot Corporation, a hardware manufacturing company. His brother, Yves, has been Ubisoft’s chairman and CEO for nearly 40 years, since 1988. For more on the origins of Ubisoft, you can read Game Informer’s oral history of the studio’s founding (including interviews with Yves) in issue 223 of our magazine, available for free in our digital archives.
Ubisoft has been on an unfortunate string of layoffs and studio closures in recent years, with the most recent wave coming earlier this month, and a huge wave of game cancellations hitting this past January. Last year, the company created a new subsidiary, Vantage Studios, to manage its most popular IP: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. Vantage is led by two CEOs, Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot, the latter of which is Yves’ son and Claude’s nephew.
Game Informer sends its condolences to the Guillemot family following this tragic accident.