There’s a new sheriff in town at Ubisoft Reflections.

At the back end of last year, after four years in charge, much-loved (and slightly eccentric) Managing Director Pauline Langourieux chose to follow her heart into a more hands-on production position within the studio. Pauline has a long and storied history in production at Ubisoft, stretching back as far as the N64 era – so we’re excited to see what she does next.

In her place, Richard Blenkinsop has stepped up to the crease. With over 17 years’ experience in the industry, Richard has worked as producer, senior producer and executive producer on a variety of titles at Codemasters and Activision; these include the likes of Blur, Rome: Total War and Call of Duty 3.

Richard succumbed to the inexorable draw of his birth-city when he returned to Newcastle to join Reflections in 2012. Here, among other games, he’s worked on The Crew and Tom Clancy’s The Division. In 2014, he became the Associate Managing Director, and now Managing Director of the studio – a role in which he aims to build on Reflections’ 30-year legacy of quality, resilience and expertise, while cementing the studio’s reputation and growing its contribution to the games industry.

Richard will also serve as Managing Director for new members of the Ubisoft family joining from FreeStyle Games, acquired by Activision in 2008 but hut by layoffs in early 2016, located in Leamington Spa. The FreeStyle team is known for their work on the DJ Hero series and last year’s Guitar Hero Live. The studio will be renamed Ubisoft Leamington and will work in close collaboration with Reflections and Ubisoft’s other International studios to develop AAA games. Of Ubisoft Leamington, Richard said, “we’re thrilled to have their expertise within the group, and the team at Reflections are looking forward to creating great things together!”