Ex-Ubisoft Director Compares Large-Scale Game Development to 'Flaming Barrels Falling From a Construction Site' After Leaving Company

Clint Hocking, a veteran of the Watch Dogs and Splinter Cell series, has likened the experience of leading a large team at Ubisoft to working while "flaming barrels [are] falling down from a construction site," reminiscent of the arcade game Donkey Kong.

Hocking made the remark during a detailed discussion about how his role changed as development teams expanded, which left him feeling less effective while overseeing Ubisoft's multi-studio efforts on Watch Dogs Legion.

Hocking and Ubisoft parted ways abruptly earlier this year amid a reshuffle at the top of the publisher's prized Assassin's Creed brand, even though he was in the middle of leading development on Assassin's Creed Hexe. The next blockbuster in the franchise, Hexe, is still expected to arrive in 2027.

"On [Splinter Cell] Chaos Theory, I would just walk over to the desk of the person who was making a thing, and sit down with them and talk to them about what they're doing," Hocking recalled on the FRVR podcast. "We could have a conversation," he continued, describing a scenario where he could offer granular input, such as the placement of a specific light source to better guide player movement.

"But on a huge game with 1,000 people, you go into a meeting to review some piece of content — some quest, say, or some location — and there's 30 people in the meeting," Hocking said. "Directors and producers and project managers, and very often even the level designer who built it isn't even in the meeting. And it's like, 'where's the person who worked on this?' 'Ah, they're working on the thing they need to do for their next meeting. But don't worry we'll take notes and put it in Jira for them.' So there's people there writing down what you say, making tasks of it.

"Then you finish the review, you say, 'OK, when are we going to see the iterations and the improvements we talked about?' And they're like, 'Well... so it's going to be six weeks before we see an iteration on this because the person who needs to do the iteration is working on this [other thing].' Then, by the time you get back there six weeks later, maybe the whole context is different. It very often feels like... you know those flaming barrels that Donkey Kong throws down at you? Very often game development feels like this stream of burning barrels falling down from a construction site."

Hocking initially joined Ubisoft to work on the legendary 2002 stealth action adventure Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, contributing as a designer and scriptwriter. He then served as creative director on its follow-up, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, before holding the same role on Far Cry 2.

After a period away from Ubisoft, during which he worked at LucasArts, Valve, and Amazon, Hocking returned to serve as creative director on Watch Dogs: Legion, which launched in 2020 to mixed reviews. Following that, he moved to the Assassin's Creed franchise and led work on Hexe from Ubisoft's Montreal studio. Legion remains Hocking's only shipped title since Far Cry 2 in 2008.

Hocking's role leading Assassin's Creed Hexe has now been taken over by Jean Guesdon, the Assassin's Creed franchise's Head of Content, who is seen as a steady and experienced hand with a lengthy track record working on numerous titles in the series.