Ubisoft suffered a blow today as Julian Gerighty, the executive producer of The Division games, announced that he is leaving the company to take a position at EA's Battlefield Studios.

"Quick update from the Base Of Operations: It's time for me to hang up my go bag (keeping the watch) as I go on another grand adventure," Gerighty wrote in a message on X. "The Division's future burns bright, and I can't wait for you to discover what the teams have been working on."

Gerighty didn't say what he was off to, but Ubisoft Massive spilled the beans in a message posted just a few minutes later. "Today, we want to share that Julian Gerighty, executive producer on the Tom Clancy's The Division franchise, is heading off to a new adventure at Battlefield Studios. While we'll miss him, his mark will live on at Massive and we'll continue to bring the world he's been part of creating to our players for years to come.

"Julian, your legacy is part of this studio and remember: Once an Agent, always an Agent."

Gerighty spent more than 25 years at Ubisoft before his departure, rising from "market knowledge manager" to creative director on The Crew. He moved to Ubisoft Massive in 2014 and took on the same role on The Division, The Division 2, and Star Wars Outlaws; he was announced as the executive producer of The Division as a whole in 2023, when Ubisoft also revealed that The Division 3 is in development.

The timing of the announcement is interesting. It was just a week ago that Gerighty appeared on the New Game+ showcase to talk up The Division 3, saying it's "shaping up to be a monster."

It also comes just three days after Ubisoft announced layoffs at Ubisoft Massive, after a "voluntary career transition program" failed to pare the numbers back sufficiently. That's not to suggest the layoffs impacted Gerighty directly—he's the public face of one of Ubisoft's biggest series, and besides, it typically takes more than three days to submit your resignation and find a gig at a major competitor—but it doesn't necessarily point to smooth sailing, either.

Somewhat ironically, a rumor that Gerighty had left Ubisoft began making the rounds just a few months ago, which Ubisoft Massive denied at the time as "far from true." Whoops.

It certainly looks like an amicable split, but I am reminded of the departure of Assassin's Creed vice president and executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté in October 2025, just seven months after the successful release of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft paid a warm tribute to Côté's "leadership, creativity, and dedication" when it announced his departure, shortly after which Côté said he'd been forced out after refusing to take a reduced role at the company.