Assassin’s Creed Creator (Patrice) Talks Life After Ubisoft, Again - Game Informer article
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/07/20/life-after-ubi...
Thought this was very interesting, some actual good investigative journalism in there. I get a sense that the best that could come out of Patrice's lawsuit is that he might get a better contract for directing 1666.
I like his direction as far as focusing on making a 3D action game not focused on violence, but I'm not sure I entirely support the idea of trying to chase the "high" of a new kind of gameplay concept when previous systems are nowhere near being figured out. Violence is a crutch, but there are things you can learn by trying to integrate more varied actions with violence that might not be as apparent (or indeed get as much commercial support) as something that is super ambitious in leaving it all behind.
The Last of Us was essentially a cover shooter/action stealth game, yet it used that to make advances in atmosphere, character interaction, and non-violent set-pieces, none of which would be things that could carry a 60$ game on their own in the current market.
Patrice's goals with Ancestors: The Humankind Oddesy sound like they are to make a smaller experience where those things CAN be enough, but I worry that he emphasizes the idea of making these small experiences "AAA quality", which I assume refers to visuals or presentation. Obviously it could pay off, but it could just as easily stretch the project too thin, what with its mechanical goals being pretty far away from standard. My cynical impression would be that this is kind of meant to serve as a portfolio or resume to big publishers, rather than something he sees as a financially viable way of sustaining his own small studio. His insistence on solely using his and his partner's own money rather than going to any sort of crowdfunding service reinforces that impression.
At the very least, if either Ancestors or 1666 comes out in any from, I could see them inspiring a lot of high profile devs in the industry, and leading to some very healthy trends in games.