For the last couple of months,Ubisofthas been having to deal with the fallout surrounding allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, and abuse against the company and a number of key employees, which has certainly cast a heavy shadow over itsrecent game announcements.
So far,Ubisofthas been taking measures to address the issue. Several of the employees hit with the allegations have either left the company or been fired, such asPR director Stone Chin. However, people are asking how Ubisoft allowed such actions to happen in the first place.
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During an earnings call, investors saw an opportunity to question Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot about his level of responsibility, with one pointing out that he either didn’t know about what was happening at all, didn’t know enough and wasn’t asking questions, or did know and turned a blind eye.
Guillemot responded with:
“Each time we’ve been made aware of misconduct, we made tough decisions, and made sure that those decisions had a clear and positive impact. It has now become clear that certain individuals betrayed the trust I placed in them, and didn’t adhere to Ubisoft’s shared values. So I have never compromised on my core values and ethics, and I never will.”
His wording seems to suggest that he was unaware of what his employees were doing, but the response has been met with criticism, with some saying that his answer is “evasive” and “unsatisfying.”
Guillemot also reiterated how the company would be ensuring to prevent things like this from happening again. It has alreadybegun transforming its HR processand will introduce mandatory training on harassment matters, as well as a new Code of Conduct for all employees to read and sign.
Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet also seemed to address criticisms regarding reports that employees had to fight against the company for more diverse protagonists in their games. For example,Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’sKassandra was meant to be the sole protagonist, but Ubisoft rejected it because “women don’t sell.”
Duguet listed off a number of protagonists from across Ubisoft’s titles, including the aforementioned Kassandra and Jade fromBeyond Good and Evil,as proof that the publisher cares about diversity in its games.
“We have represented diversity in a meaningful way in our games. And these titles are among our biggest performers and our most iconic games…as you can expect from our teams' commitment and passion, Ubisoft will continue to lead the industry on diversity and representation in our games in the future.”
Given the stories from former employees, like the aforementioned Kassandra one andthe voice actress forAssassin’s Creed Syndicate’s Evie admitting she also had to deal with sexismwhile working on the game, Duguet’s words do come across as rather hollow.
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