Clint Hocking, the veteran creative director behind Far Cry 2 and Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe, has announced a brand new independent studio called Build Machine Games , just two months after his departure from Ubisoft.
Hocking broke the news this week via a LinkedIn post, describing the studio's ambitions in characteristically bold terms. "We're lean and fast, but bold and ambitious," he wrote. “We aspire to expand the expressive range and power of the medium with emotionally resonant, socially relevant games that challenge players' perspectives, pre-conceptions and empathy as much as their reasoning and reflexes.”
From Ubisoft AAA to a blank slate
Hocking's exit from Ubisoft earlier this year was the first domino. Shortly after, Assassin's Creed Hexe game director Benoit Richer also departed, leaving the series' head of content Jean Guesdon to step into the creative director role. That's two of the game's top creative leads gone within weeks of each other, and Hexe still hasn't shown much beyond a moody teaser trailer set in dark, witch-trial-era woods.
For players following Hexe's development, the back-to-back leadership changes are worth paying attention to. Guesdon has since described the project as a "unique, darker, narrative-driven Assassin's Creed experience set during a pivotal moment in history," which is about as much as Ubisoft has shared publicly. The game's direction appears intact, but the people who shaped it from the ground up are no longer in the building.
Build Machine Games currently has two open positions listed on its website: one programmer role and one artist role, both targeting experienced developers comfortable in a flat, hands-on structure.
Why Hocking's track record actually matters here
Here's the thing: the phrase "emotionally resonant, socially relevant games" reads like corporate speak until you look at what Hocking has actually shipped. Far Cry 2 remains one of the most genuinely uncomfortable open-world games ever made, a title that punished players for the very behaviors other shooters reward. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, which he also directed, is still cited as one of the best stealth games in the genre's history. Even Watch Dogs Legion, for all its uneven execution, pushed an immersive sim-style "play as anyone" mechanic into a franchise that could have easily coasted on familiar ground.
Between his two stints at Ubisoft, Hocking worked at LucasArts, Valve, and Amazon Game Studios, though none of those projects ever made it to release. Build Machine Games represents the first time he'll have full creative ownership over a project from day one.
What this means for players watching Hexe
For fans of action adventure games keeping tabs on the Assassin's Creed pipeline, the leadership turnover on Hexe is the more immediate concern. Guesdon is a franchise veteran with deep AC roots, so the project isn't rudderless. But Hocking's specific creative fingerprint, the one that made Hexe sound like it might actually try something different within the series, is no longer attached to it.
Build Machine Games is still at skeleton crew stage, with no announced projects and only two job listings up. But given Hocking's history of making action adventure games that resist easy categorization, whatever comes out of this studio will be worth tracking. Check out our Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe guide collection for everything currently known about the game as it continues development under new creative leadership.
