Last week, a bombshell report from French news publication Le Telegramme revealed that Ubisoft had achieved “minimal changes” in the year after allegations broke that the company fosters a toxic work environment. Sources from within Ubisoft’s various satellite offices said that “nothing has changed,” that executives accused of misconduct are still protected by management and HR, and that employees that report such misconduct are often sidelined.
The expose brought fresh calls to boycott Ubisoft using the hashtag #HoldUbisoftAccountable, and Ubisoft CEO came under fire to resign amidst the renewed scandal.
Rather than resign, Guillemot has once again published an open letter on the Ubisoft website in much the same way he did soon after the scandal initially broke last summer. In the letter, Guillemot details the actions Ubisoft has taken to address the allegations, including a new code of conduct and all the new executives it has hired to replace those that were caught up in the scandal.
“Last June, we faced the fact that not all team members were experiencing the safe and inclusive workplace that we had always intended Ubisoft to be,” Guillemot began. “Since then, we have engaged in a company-wide effort to listen, learn and build a roadmap for a better Ubisoft for all.”
Ubisoft’s efforts included group-wide assessments and anonymous questionnaires sent out to 14,000 employees, as well as 2,000 employees taking part in focus groups and listening sessions. Ubisoft has also partnered with external companies to perform an audit of its global HR practices and started a global hotline to report employee misconduct.
Although Le Telegramme’s report said that this hotline hasn’t resulted in much of anything, Guillemot wrote that it launched “a series of investigations” that resulted in “training, disciplinary sanctions, and dismissals." New reports are now handed over to an external company for investigation.
“Considerable progress has been made, and we will continue to work hard with the ambition of becoming an exemplary workplace in the tech industry,” Guillemot added. “Management – myself included – have a responsibility to act as role models and be exemplary for our teams. I want to stress my personal commitment to continue to improve our workplace culture and create real, lasting, and positive change at Ubisoft.”
A collective lawsuit against Ubisoft led by Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo, a French game workers union, will bring even greater scrutiny to Ubisoft’s business practices.
