United Kingdom, Oct. 17 -- Former Assassin's Creed boss Marc-Alexis Cote has confirmed Ubisoft "asked [him] to step aside" and that he "did not walk away" from the franchise voluntarily.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Cote - who headed up the action-adventure franchise for 15 years - had exited the studio after Ubisoft passed the series to its new Tencent-backed subsidary Vantage Studios, and Cote has now insisted he did not choose to leave the publisher on his own merit.

In a post on LinkedIn, Cote wrote: "Many of you have expressed surprise that I would choose to leave Assassin's Creed after so many years, especially given the passion I still hold for it.

"The truth is simple: I did not make that choice.

"Ubisoft decided to...