A year after the first allegations of abuse at Ubisoft surfaced, reports have found that the company continues to struggle with harassment cases. While Ubisoft has fired and reprimanded many of the management and HR involved in the controversy, some employees have stated that management continues to ignore newly reported harassment cases.
French publication Le Télégramme has published an investigation which states that the first batch of harassment cases will be going through legal courts in May. These court cases will be led by Solidaires Informatique Jeu Video, a game worker’s union that has been building a case against Ubisoft since October 2020.
Some of the changes made since July 2020 include the firing of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Creative Director Ashraf Ismail after a formal investigation. However, many of the accused conveniently resigned without the conclusion of any official investigations, such as Executive Serge Hascoet and former Editorial Vice President Maxime Beland.
According to the game worker’s union STJV, Ubisoft’s code of conduct now states that harassment is a “non-negotiable interdiction”. Management also attended advanced accountability sessions after the first allegations came to light. Back in December 2020, Ubisoft appointed Raashi Sikka as Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion.
Other initiatives, however, such as a measure to hire more women at the company have reportedly been ignored. New hires have not been given the accountability and half-day training sessions provided for the company’s 20,000 employees last year. Along with new harassment cases opened up in December 2020 being sidelined, it looks as though Ubisoft continues to struggle with an ongoing culture of abuse.
A detailed report from Gamesindustry.biz also notes that some of the management accused of harassment are still working at Ubisoft, such as Nadeo founder Florent Castelnérac and Ubisoft Singapore Director Hugues Ricour. One source stated that “nothing has changed” following Christophe Derennes’ appointment in Canada. Notably, Derennes’ (who is Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s cousin) appointment has also raised concerns of nepotism in the company.
[Source: Gameindustry.biz, Le Télégramme]
