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Five Former Ubisoft Executives Arrested Over Alleged Sexual Harassment
04.10.2023 - 13:35 / thegamer.com / Yves Guillemot / Tommy François / Ubisoft
In 2020, Ubisoft was hit with accusations of sexual harassment and assault. A year later, employees claimed that the French publishing giant had "a way of burying" complaints. Former devs who wished to remain anonymous alleged that Ubisoft would do nothing, move the person being accused, or even promote them, rather than taking any meaningful action. Two years later, arrests have finally been made.
As reported by Libération (via GamesIndustry.biz), three former executives were arrested yesterday, while two more were placed into custody today. Included among them are former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, and ex-VP of editorial and creative services Tommy François. Both left the company in 2020 after the allegations came to light. By that point, Hascoët had been with Ubisoft for over 20 years, taking François under his wing as his protege.
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The plaintiff's lawyer Maude Beckers corroborates claims from alleged victims that Ubisoft has a culture of toxicity, which CEO Yves Guillemot, following the allegations, claimed to be combatting with new company-wide measures. However, Beckers says that the case "reveals systemic sexual violence" and goes beyond these individuals.
The arrests are being handled by the prosecutor's office in Bobigny, a district in Paris. The office followed up on allegations filed in 2021 by the Solidaires Informatique union and two victims. It sent files to the judicial police who then spent a year gathering testimonies from 50 current and former employees.
Ubisoft's work culture, specifically within the Editorial department, was described as a "boys' club" that had formed around the vice presidents. Francois in particular was accused of sexual harassment and assault by several who came forward to speak to Libération about the case. However, it's claimed that due to his relationship with Hascoët, who decided whether projects would go forward or be cancelled, he had impunity over his actions.
Staff working at Ubisoft allege that, when trying to raise these issues with HR, they were told, "They're creatives, that's how they work," or, "If you can't work with him, maybe it's time for you to leave."
In 2020, The Verge reported that 25 percent of employees faced some kind of workplace misconduct at Ubisoft. This came courtesy of an internal survey published by Guillemot which took answers from over 14,000 anonymous employees. One in five said that they didn't feel "respected or safe" while at work, with women and non-binary employees more likely to experience or witness harassment than men.
The next year, Ubisoft admitted that its handling of the scandal was flawed and that it didn't "always communicate enough back to the people
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