By Manandeep Singh
In 2014, Assassin’s Creed Unity came about. With that game came a change in the opening disclaimer.
“Inspired by historical events and characters, this work of fiction was designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations, and gender identities.”, it proclaimed.
Now I was 14, naive, and ever so vulnerable to eating up empty marketing talk. And, like many of us, I didn’t think much of it besides an “oh that’s nice” and moved on.
Now, 6 years later, both I and the industry have gone through many changes. Ubisoft has become a symbol for risk-averse mediocrity, putting out the same bland Ubisoft sandboxes which feel more like checklists than games, and I have grown tired of them, and at least a wee bit smarter. Enough to see and recognise corporate garbage-talk for what it is most of the time. But the one thing about Ubisoft that didn’t change since was this little disclaimer before their games. Even when they grow horrified at expressing even the beginnings of a statement that might serve to alienate even a single person capable of buying their game on the basis of their beliefs, this statement has remained as a bold(by their mealy-mouthed standards) declaration towards progress and inclusion.
Imagine my surprise then, dear reader, as I woke up to the news that all is not well within Ubisoft. Jason Schrier, one of the most prolific games journalists, broke the story, and many many more came out. It seems that this here statement of theirs was just as facetious and vapid as everything that they put out. Ubisoft, apparently, has a corporate culture reminiscent of a ‘Frat house’, rife with harassment and discrimination of every kind. The reports are sickening.
Dozens of employees, current, and ex, have come out and reported a culture of racism, sexism, and misogyny purported and celebrated by senior executives. People have reported inappropriate comments, touches, sexual advances, and behaviour, all in line with the poor representation of women in Ubi, and with HR usually dismissing these claims.
A lot of them center around the chief creative officer, Serge Hascoët, who has been with the company for decades and personally overseen many of these projects. It was believed that he was irreplaceable and immovable as a friend of CEO Yves Guillemot, and employees just have to find a way to work with him. This man has been harassing and abusing employees for decades, and no action was taken against him. People who invoked HR against him were told to “talk it out” and given gift cards. Gift cards. And after all of this was brought to light, this man was ‘allowed to resign’ by Ubisoft. He was given all of the dignity and privilege of being able to just, step down and for all intents and purposes get away with years of harassment and abuse. Hascoët had a habit of holding meetings at strip clubs. Many of his deputies adopted this practice. These people went on to be promoted to creative directors and other administrative positions, in a group that consists almost exclusively of men. And that’s only one person.
Another favourite of Hascoët was the head of the Toronto office, Maxime Béland. His wife, Rima Brek, was the head of HR. Maxime here also has a decade long track record. His feats involve frequent and inappropriate touching at work parties and an infamous choking event. One that was used to warn newcomers about the executive and his fits of rage.
The Paris office had Tommy François, another 13-year veteran, and one of Hascoët’s deputies. He had a reputation too, including open flirting with subordinates, giving unsolicited ‘massages’ and made a number of homophobic and misogynistic jokes. Newcomers to the company were told that it was just ‘Tommy being Tommy”. There were reports of sexual propositions and genital grabbing. Reports to HR did absolutely nothing.
These are just the executives, the famous and the people in power. Many employees have come out to report colleagues sending them pornography, and sexually explicit messages. A woman who complained was told to move to an office in a different country. Another was told that she cannot be a producer because she was a woman. A number of people complained about boozy lunches, choruses of inappropriate jokes (a particularly egregious one about black actor John Boyega being referred to as a monkey comes to mind), and repeated sexual advances and propositions, despite the victims clearly expressing their denial.
The HR department was always distrustful of the victims, and action taken against the perpetrators was minimal to none. The victims, on the other hand, were further ostracised and harassed until they quit.
This culture also found its way to Ubi’s games. In AC: Syndicate, Evie’s role was originally going to be much more significant. In AC: Origins, Bayek was originally supposed to be killed off early and Aya, his wife, was to take over as protagonist. In Odyssey, Kassandra was supposed to be the only protagonist. All of these ideas were flouted and the role of the women trimmed down under the directive that “Female protagonists don’t sell games”, in spite of many, many pieces of evidence to the contrary.
In the face of all of this, the only response forthcoming from Ubisoft is allowing the most heinous perpetrators to resign, and empty promises of “wide, sweeping changes”. All of which will be forgotten when AC: Valhalla comes out later this year.
This is not the response of a company that wants to change. This is not nearly enough. Ubisoft is as much of a trashy, spineless and morally bankrupt corporation that Activision-Blizzard or EA is. And I will stand for it no longer.
I ask you, dearest reader, to do the same.
Vote with your wallet. I’m sure all of us know ways to play their games without seeing Ubisoft make money off of it. Do not let them forget. Make them change. This sort of sexist, homophobic, and toxic culture has been prevalent in gaming companies for decades, and recently there have been signs of hope. Do not let this die down. Remember this whenever you see an announcement from them. How long will we let them off the hook for this?
I will not begrudge you, reader, for still wanting to play their games, for still being excited for their next products, and for still enjoying the thrill of jumping down from a tower to unlock a map for the millionth time. But be aware of what happens behind the scene. And for heaven’s sake, spit at their disclaimer of inclusivity till it actually means something.
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