Québec court grants Ubisoft injunction against THQ

Ubisoft has been granted an injunction by the court of Québec against fellow games company THQ, preventing the latter organisation from poaching further staff from Ubisoft’s Montreal studio.
GameInformer carries a statement from Ubisoft, which reads: “Ubisoft has filed a request before the Superior Court of Québec for injunction orders against THQ Inc. in order to have them comply with the non-solicit clause included in Ubisoft Montreal’s employee work contracts. The Superior Court of Québec has granted the injunctions to the satisfaction of Ubisoft.”
This move aims to prevent THQ getting their hands on more of Ubisoft Montreal’s employees, after Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets and three other key members of staff ultimately ended up at THQ Montreal.
Désilets left Ubisoft in May of last year, then appeared in a lead position at THQ Montreal in October 2010. Assassin’s Creed artistic director Alex Drouin, production manager Mark Besner, and associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin also left Ubisoft during this period citing “family reasons,” before showing up as THQ employees.
In a later interview with Joystiq, THQ’s Danny Bilson confirmed that the company had hired these three employees at Désilets’ request. Unfortunately for THQ, this also confirmed Désilets’ involvement in their employment, breaching non-compete clauses of his former Ubisoft contract (which extended to one year following his departure.)
None of this is great news for the Assassin’s Creed series, which hit a critical high with Brotherhood, but which now may be in creative jeopardy after losing so many key players in its development.