Alexandre Amâncio was born in 1975, in Braga, in northern mainland Portugal. His parents, who are originally from the Minho and Beira Alta regions, were raised in Angola, which was then a Portuguese colony. Alexandre’s father had moved there when he was a baby and his mother when she was seven. After the Carnations Revolution of 1974, which ended the centuries-old colonial empire, the Amâncios became one of the over half a million retornados (former colonial settlers) who returned to Portugal in a rush and were forced to leave most of their possessions and overall lives behind. Alexandre’s mother, Jacinta, was pregnant with him when they moved back. The family lived in Braga for three years until they decided to move to Montreal, where two of Jacinta’s brothers lived. The Amâncios settled in the Plateau Mont-Royal, where most Portuguese immigrants lived and their organizations were concentrated. Alexandre spent much of his childhood in that neighbourhood, during which he participate in the Portuguese community’s busy social and cultural life. When Alexandre was twelve, his family moved to Rosemère, a northern suburb of Montreal.
Growing up, Alexandre visited Portugal with his family every summer, sometimes spending up to two months at a time there. He remembers visiting the Templar castles of the Order of Christ and other historical sites, which inspired his interest in creative writing and fantasy worlds, which he later conveyed through film and video games.
In his twenties, Alexandre moved back to Montreal, where he developed his career as programmer, video game developer, and entertainment media entrepreneur. Alexandre’s first job was with a visual simulation company, where he worked on secret military projects for NATO, reconstructing sites three-dimensionally from photos and maps. Four years later, in 2005, Alexandre started working for the small video game developer Microids, where he worked as creative department director on a tennis simulation game. Once that company closed, he was hired to work on Ubisoft’s studios in the Mile End – once an heavily Portuguese neighbourhood that has since been gentrified. There, Alexandre developed the leading 3D modelling software Autodesk 3Ds Max, which became a standard in the video game industry. This software was originally used in Far Cry 2, the first project in which Alexandre worked as artistic director. Alexandre’s decision to set the game in the African savannah was inspired by his family’s history in Angola.
After Far Cry 2, released in 2008, Alexandre worked in the highly popular series Assassin’s Creed, the chapter Revelations, released in 2011. As lead director, he managed a staff of up to 600 people across seven studios. Alexandre also pitched the idea for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but left Ubisoft before the game went into development. He returned to direct Assassin’s Creed Unity, released in 2014, which involved 1,000 staff, a $150 million budget, and ten studios in seven countries and three continents. His work on the Assassin’s Creed series earned him two Writers Guild of America nominations.
In 2015, Alexandre left Ubisoft to work as the creative director of Lune Rouge, through which he founded the subsidiary company Reflector Entertainment. This entertainment media company is dedicated to creating “story worlds” for multiple platforms. Alexandre worked as writer, director, and executive producer of it first trans-media title, Unknown 9 Storyworld, which is yet to be released. In 2020, Bandai Namco bought Reflector and its subsidiary game production business. Two years later, Alexandre announced his departure from the company he founded.
