Ubisoft has once again been in the middle of a controversy over misconduct situations within the company. On this occasion, the accusation comes from France with the presentation of a complaint for “institutional harassment” against the firm itself, and also against specific figures like Yves Guillemot, CEO and co-founder.
According Kotaku, the accusation was brought before the criminal court of Bobigny, on behalf of two former Ubisoft employees and the Solidaires Informatique union. In fact, said entity confirmed the complaint with a statement published through its Twitter account.
The video game publishing firm was already in the eye of the storm last year for situations of racism, sexual harassment and sexism. This caused the departure of both developers and executives; however, many employees have been angered by the continuation of various managers responsible for the misconduct that was made public.
According to the presentation, the complaint does not only fall on Ubisoft as a company and Guillemot as a visible face. It also impacts former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, former editorial vice president Tommy Francois, and former human resources chief Cécile Cornet.
The whistleblowers accuse Ubisoft of “establishing, maintaining and enforcing a system where sexual harassment is tolerated.” And they even go further and ensure that for the company it is more profitable to keep bullies off than to protect affected employees.
Ubisoft is again targeted for inappropriate behavior
In 2020, after the harassment situations that occurred in the company were made public, Ubisoft conducted an anonymous internal survey. It threw that 25% of the employees had been victims or direct witnesses of situations of misconduct in the company. For now, the publishing firm has not spoken publicly regarding the new accusation filed in France.
Regarding its ongoing projects, Ubisoft recently announced the development of Assassin’s creed infinity. It will be created jointly by the Quebec and Montreal studios, in order to lower the decibels to a growing rivalry between the two that also negatively impacts internal doors.