Former BioWare Creative Director Mike Laidlaw Joins Ubisoft Quebec

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Veteran game designer Mike Laidlaw has joined Ubisoft Quebec and is working with the team there on an unannounced project, he announced on social media Wednesday.

“I always knew I’d go back to triple-A at some point, once I found the right team and project,” he tweeted. “Spoiler: I did at Quebec and I’m so damn excited to finally talk about it!”

Laidlaw is best known for his stint at BioWare as creative director on the “Dragon Age” franchise. He also worked on “Mass Effect” and “Jade Empire.” Since leaving BioWare in 2017, he’s served as creative consultant on “The Waylanders,” a role-playing game from indie studio Gato Salvaje that’s expected to launch on PC in 2020. One of the most exciting aspects of consulting was meeting many incredibly talented developers and offering insight on “some truly interesting projects,” he said in a LinkedIn post. One of those projects belonged to Ubisoft Quebec.

“In my months working with the team here, I’ve been really impressed with the combination of passion and raw talent in the studio,” he said. “If you’ve played the excellent ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ — which was principally developed here in Quebec City — you already have some taste of what that combination can produce.”

While Laidlaw can’t discuss what he’s currently working on, he did say it’s exciting enough to make him move halfway across the continent.

Besides “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,” Ubisoft Quebec has worked on “For Honor,” “South Park: The Fractured But Whole,” and various other “Assassin’s Creed” titles.