Ubisoft co-founder Claude Guillemot died in a light plane crash in western France.

On June 21 local time, overseas media including online outlet Gigazine reported the crash occurred on June 19 when a Cessna 421 small aircraft attempting to land at La Baule airfield in France's western Loire-Atlantique department went down, killing both people on board.

The victims were Claude Guillemot, known as a Ubisoft co-founder and businessman, and instructor Marc Guiero, who was on board with him. Reports said Guillemot was piloting the aircraft and was traveling to take part in an air show.

Claude Guillemot was known in the French game industry as a founding member of Ubisoft. Ubisoft is a leading French game company that holds multiple game intellectual properties including the Assassin's Creed series. The company confirmed Guillemot's death but did not issue a separate statement.

Born in 1956, Claude Guillemot was the eldest son in a family that led a five-brother management structure with Michel, Yves, Gerard and Christian. The Guillemot family had run a business in Brittany selling chemical products and parts to farms, and the brothers joined the family business after graduating from university. As the business environment became difficult, they moved to diversify and entered the game industry in the process.

The brothers first established game software distributor Guillemot Informatique, and then founded hardware seller Guillemot Corporation. They later launched Ubisoft by setting up a game development company in March 1986. The media outlet said the company name Ubisoft was derived from "ubiquitous."

After growing into France's largest game distributor, Ubisoft began to draw attention in 1995 with the release of Rayman. Assassin's Creed, released in 2007, was originally planned as a sequel to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but shifted toward a storyline in which assassins oppose the ambitions of the Knights Templar and became a long-running hit series. The latest title, Assassin's Creed Black Flag RE:Synchro, is scheduled to be released on July 9.

Claude Guillemot later continued to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of Guillemot Corporation. Reports said the five brothers each held one-fifth of the shares in the companies they founded. This structure shows that the founding family's influence has long been maintained at Ubisoft and related affiliates.

The accident is drawing attention in the industry because one of Ubisoft's leading founding members died suddenly. So far, confirmed information remains limited to the circumstances of the accident, the deaths, and the level of confirmation by the company. Ubisoft has acknowledged the death but has not provided further comment.