At the end of January this year, former creative director on the Dragon Age series, Mike Laidlaw, announced that he would be leaving Ubisoft, after working on an unannounced project there since 2018. While not a lot of information was made public at the time, there was a lot of speculation as to why he was leaving the Quebec City team. Now it seems new light is being shed on the project in its entirety, including why Laidlaw left.

According to those familiar with the project, it was code-named Avalon and was a game centered around the King Arthur mythos, complete with knights and magic. Others mentioned the game was making good progress and would have even featured a co-op multiplayer feature, similar to the one found in games like Dauntless or Monster Hunter.

However, it appears that this progress wasn’t enough for now-former Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët. According to Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Hascoët did not like fantasy and set a ridiculously high bar for the team. People in the know about the project stated that Hascoët would say, “If they were going to make a fantasy game, it had to be “better than Tolkien.” "

Hascoët, who recently resigned from Ubisoft following multiple sexual misconduct allegations, seemed to have an unrealistic expectation for the team working on Avalon. However, it doesn’t seem like this was the only fantasy project Hascoët affected. It’s also being reported that Hascoët rejected multiple other game pitches set in a fantasy setting.

As for Mike Laidlaw, it seems that the former Dragon Age creative director quit following the cancellation of Avalon. However, he didn’t go without some kind of a fight. According to Bloomberg, Laidlaw’s team attempted to, “[switch] the setting, trying one that was more science fiction and one based on Greek mythology.” Ultimately, however, Hascoët did what he did best, rejected these ideas before finally canceling the project altogether.

As for what is next for Mike Laidlaw, only time will tell. There have been some that have speculated that he may return to BioWare to assist on the development of the next Dragon Age or Mass Effect game, but there’s been no indication that he has any interest in doing so. Until that information is made available, it seems like players will just have to wait and dream about what could have been with Avalon.

Source: Bloomberg