Ubisoft founder Claude Guillemot dies aged 69 in plane crash near La Baule

Claude Guillemot, one of the five brothers who founded Ubisoft in 1986, died in a plane crash near the coastal town of La Baule in western France. He was 69 years old. Guillemot and a flight instructor at Rennes were both killed when their twin-engine Cessna 421 crashed in a field near La Baule Aerodrome on the afternoon of 19 June.

French authorities confirmed that the plane was on fire when emergency crews arrived at the scene. Guillemot, a member of the local aviation group, had traveled from Rennes and was attending an airshow that was expected to draw more than 100 planes to the area. The cause of the accident has not been found, the investigation is still ongoing.

Ubisoft confirmed his death in a statement, saying the company “I am very saddened to hear of the death of Claude Guillemot.“Guillemot’s five brothers, Claude, Yves, Michel, Christian, and Gérard, founded Ubisoft on 28 March 1986 in the Brittany town of Carentoir. What started as a software distribution business grew to become one of the largest video game publishers in the world, behind franchises including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, the Tom Clancy series, The Dance.

Claude served as Executive Vice President in charge of operations at Ubisoft and sat on the company’s board of directors. His brother Yves is still chairman and chief executive of Ubisoft, which employs around 19,000 people at more than 40 studios around the world.

Outside of Ubisoft, Claude was chairman and CEO of Guillemot Corporation, a publicly traded family company that owns Thrustmaster, a major manufacturer of sports equipment including racing wheels, flight sticks, and controllers, and Hercules, which makes audio and DJ equipment. Guillemot Corp reported revenue of €197.7 million in its latest financial year.

The Guillemot family’s hold on Ubisoft has been a recurring topic in the gaming industry. Despite holding about 11% of the remaining shares, the family maintains control through France’s Florange Act, which gives double voting rights to long-term shareholders. In 2022, Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate that has expanded its gaming portfolio aggressively, invested approximately €300 million in Guillemot Brothers Limited, a private family company, acquiring an economic share of 49.9% while obtaining only 5% of voting rights.

That deal was widely interpreted as a defensive move, allowing the Guillemots to maintain control of Ubisoft while keeping Tencent’s influence off the table. Tencent also holds a direct stake of approximately 9.46% in Ubisoft and has invested 1.16 billion euros in Vantage Studios, a new Ubisoft company created in 2025 to manage the company’s major franchises. The question of whether Tencent and the Guillemot family will eventually pursue a full buyout has lingered for years, with no deal in place as of June 2026.

Ubisoft has faced significant headwinds in recent years, including studio closures, layoffs affecting hundreds of employees, and a corporate restructuring that split the company into five creative divisions. The successful launch of Assassin’s Creed, a franchise that has grown beyond games into film and television, helped stabilize the company after a difficult 2024, when Assassin’s Creed Shadows surpassed five million players in four months of its release in March 2025.

Claude Guillemot’s death comes at a very difficult time for the family business he helped build. Ubisoft is navigating pressure from activist investors, an ongoing strategic partnership with Tencent, and widespread cuts to the gaming industry that have seen tens of thousands of jobs cut in the industry by 2023.

He is survived by his brothers and family. French media reported that payments from the gaming industry and Brittany’s business community began arriving within hours of the announcement.