Clint Hocking launches Build Machine Games, aiming for emotionally resonant games

Clint Hocking’s next move matters because it is not coming from a blank slate. Build Machine Games is already starting work on prototypes for its first game, and the studio is pitching itself as lean, fast, bold and ambitious, with a small opening slate that currently only includes Canadian residents. One of those roles is for an experienced programmer who will help define the studio’s technology direction while also coding every day, a clue that Hocking wants the technical and creative sides of the business tightly fused from the beginning.

That approach fits Hocking’s résumé. He has held creative-director roles at LucasArts, Valve, Amazon Game Studios and Ubisoft, and long-time players know him especially for Far Cry 2, a game that is still discussed for the way its systems, agency and theme worked against each other in deliberate ways. Build Machine Games’ stated aim is to expand the “expressive range and power of the medium,” which signals more than a standard genre play. The studio is being framed around emotionally resonant, socially relevant experiences that challenge players’ perspectives, preconceptions, empathy, reasoning and reflexes.

That makes the launch feel less like a celebration of a familiar name and more like a forecast. Hocking has built a reputation as a designer who thinks in systems and likes mechanics to carry meaning, so a small independent studio under his direction is likely to favor pointed design over sheer scale. For players, that suggests a project that may be closer to a sharp authored statement than to a broad, content-heavy blockbuster.

The timing adds another layer. Hocking left Ubisoft Montréal in February 2026 after roughly two decades with the company, most recently serving as creative director on Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe. Hexe has been described as an Assassin’s Creed set around 16th-century witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire, which helps explain why Build Machine Games is drawing attention before it has even announced a title. Hocking’s exit came just as another veteran on that same project, Benoit Richer, reportedly left in April 2026 to form Servo Games, underscoring how much Ubisoft-linked talent is now spinning out into smaller, focused studios. Build Machine Games is entering that same lane, but with Hocking’s track record, the expectation is already clear: this is a studio likely to chase ideas with a strong point of view.