Ubisoft Co-Founder Claude Guillemot Dies in Plane Crash

TheGamer and Bloomberg is reporting that 69-year-old Claude Guillemot, one of the five brothers that co-founded Ubisoft, has passed away in a plane accident in La Baule, France.

The Cessna 421 departed from Rennes and was carrying Claude, who owned the aircraft, and an unidentified passenger, when it crashed into a field in the commune of La Baule on Friday afternoon France time, per FranceInfo. He was on his way to La Baule to attend a plane meet.

In an announcement Ubisoft said it was "deeply saddened to learn about the death of Claude Guillemot, co-founder of the group and chairman of Guillemot Corp, in an accident. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time." The publisher said it will make no further statements at this time. [Via Reuters]

Claude had worked closely with his four brothers: Christian, Gérard, Michel, and Yves, having owned Guillemot Informatique, a mail order software business. After discovering the video game industry was lucrative, they decided to move into development, launching Ubi Soft Entertainment S.A. (a portmanteau of "ubiquitous software"). In 2003, the company changed its name to what we today know as Ubisoft.