Multiple Ubisoft leaders implicated in horrifying and systemic sexual misconduct, still not fired (details inside)

[Palette Swap]

When I read about that Tommy piece of shit last week, I genuinely wondered how much of him went into a sanitized version of the Mythic Quest main character.

The fact that Guillemot's right-hand man, Serge Hascoët, is among those who are directly guilty of committing sexual harassment and sexual assault attempts makes me worry that nothing will change. Yves Guillemot's promises are worthless if he doesn't at least fire that guy.

Honestly, this guy should even be arrested. He pulled a knife on a woman, FFS [Edit: that's Serge's assistant, apparently, I may have misread. Still, fuck all this. This guy apparently did drugs constantly during work hours and tried to sell drugs to co-workers too...]

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The Liberation article last week made it abundantly clear that both Hascoet and HR knew what was happening but chose to protect "talent", and this went on for years, so it seems incredibly unlikely that Guillemot didn't know.
They need to raze the fuck out of their hierarchy.

 

[rras1994]

I actually thought Ubisoft was a good place to work for, I feel so stupid for thinking that now

 

[Arkanim94]

For those wondering if things will ever change at Ubisoft, Numerama has released another article earlier today: https://www.numerama.com/politique/...nte-de-membrasser-tout-le-monde-rigolait.html

It's really long so I won't translate everything but it speaks about Serge Hascoët, Yves Guillemot's right-hand man and the head of Ubisoft's creative division.







There are a lot of other stories of abuse in this article but Yves doesn't want to adress how the top brass acts so things probably will never change.

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basically a bunch of high school kids who never got past that point mentally.

sigh.

 

[Mimosa]

I actually thought Ubisoft was a good place to work for, I feel so stupid for thinking that now

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it can be. there are a lot of wonderful, talented people and you learn a LOT.

but there is a general culture (that, to be fair, exists all over the gaming industry) that is deeply unfriendly to women and minorities. If you are unlucky enough to have something happen and try to complain, then prepare for it to be minimized and in worst case scenarios for it to blow back on you.

 

[Morrigan]

Serge has done way worse than what's listed in the article, and the people being mentioned and "outed" are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have had a creative director tell me how sexy I was at a Ubisoft party, touch my hair, and just be generally skeevy.

I also had a game director whisper in my ear suggestively about how a song was "about having an affair" at another party.

it goes deep, man.

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I'm sorry this happened to you. This is awful.

These are directors too. Not "lowly" interns being creeps, but men in power.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

God damn. Ubisoft sounds like a nightmare. They better fix their shit cause the fact his have been going on for so long sounds really disgusting.

Won't be buying anything from them.

 

[Siresly]

Ubisoft needs to clean house, and start at the top. Perhaps firing this Serge Hascoët asshole would be a decent indicator that the company might actually be serious about it.

 

[ashtaar]

Ngl, I like Ubisoft's game output. They're probably one of my most favourite publishers (and I worked on a couple of their games). But reading this... If they don't make sweeping, deep and lasting changes, they deserve to burn to the fucking ground. No amount of good videogames is worth this shit.

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IM the same boat, heart goes out to the victims

 

[Delphine]

Read both articles from Numerama. This whole ordeal is the gift that keeps on giving, gets more horrendous each time, yet not surprising in the slightest.

I'm laughing at the fact that a couple of years ago, I attended a panel about "women in the video game industry", among which a clear majority of Ubisoft employees, were intervening, and were leading and mostly dominating the conversation. I have no doubt some were genuine while participating in this, but god does it ring hollower than ever now.

 

[Arm Van Dam]

Guillemots would need to clean house starting with Serge

 

[purseowner]

Still reading, this one is especially galling:

The article speaks of a transgender woman who, prior to her transition, was treated well, and after her transition, progressively, she started experiencing sexist micro-aggressions, such as being interrupted more often, making more effort to even be listened to, work twice as hard for her opinions to matter, people would sigh whenever she'd speak. This happened daily, and she says she also, on occasion, had some coworkers trying to touch her breasts (?!!! fucking hell).

It gets worse. [cw transphobia] She left the Montreal office, and joined the Paris office. Over there, her superior wasn't much better in terms of micro-aggressions, and at some point he went full mask off: he locked her up in his office for 2h in order to make her "confess that she's not a real woman".

She also spoke up against some coworkers who would openly say things about the fuckability of interns, and got punished for it by earning a reputation for being "oversensitive", "lacking in testosterone" and being "too haughty". On her final evaluation before leaving Ubisoft she was noted as being "too aggressive".

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The spoilered is horrific and I hope it doesn't get lost amidst other info in the thread. This could not have happened without a culture that supported such transmisogynistic behaviour or enabled it by staying silent and turning a blind eye.

 

[Jawbreaker]

Serge has done way worse than what's listed in the article, and the people being mentioned and "outed" are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have had a creative director tell me how sexy I was at a Ubisoft party, touch my hair, and just be generally skeevy.

I also had a game director whisper in my ear suggestively about how a song was "about having an affair" at another party.

it goes deep, man.

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Jesus,. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I appreciate you being able to share your experience to further highlight these issues.

 

[Dashful]

Man, this shit should never be happening. Very sorry for all the people victim of these assholes.

 

[Filipus]

Horrible horrible horrible. All these people need to be banned and some thrown in prison. We need to purge this type of behavior. It's scary how these people in power can do this kind of things FOR YEARS without consequences. Have we received any new responses from the top dog?

 

[Yog-Sothoth]

And this is a first world company. Can't begin to imagine what it's like for women and minorities in the third world. Being Mexican I've heard stories but I bet there are a lot of much worse examples here in my country and outside.

 

[BBboy20]

Guillemots would need to clean house starting with Serge

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If he knew...if the rest of the board of directors knew...hell, if the share holders knew (fuck, they don't care either way)...

 

[TheSaddestSort]

That was a difficult read, my thoughts and sympathy to the victims. I won't be buying any more Ubisoft games.

 

[Jawbreaker]

And this is a first world company. Can't begin to imagine what it's like for women and minorities in the third world. Being Mexican I've heard stories but I bet there are a lot of much worse examples here in my country and outside.

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Or even in Japan where there's a culture of silence and being overworked. There are likely a lot of abuses at Japanese game companies that we never hear about.

 

[Dashful]

Or even in Japan where there's a culture of silence and being overworked. There are likely a lot of abuses at Japanese game companies that we never hear about.

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Probably. That's why speaking out matters so much, to give power to those scared to speak out right now and just endures.

 

[taro]

It's hard to believe Yves takes this serious if those top execs are allowed to stay on. I hope greater pressure is put on Ubisoft as I doubt we've heard the worst.

Serge has done way worse than what's listed in the article, and the people being mentioned and "outed" are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have had a creative director tell me how sexy I was at a Ubisoft party, touch my hair, and just be generally skeevy.

I also had a game director whisper in my ear suggestively about how a song was "about having an affair" at another party.

it goes deep, man.

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Thanks for sharing and wish you didn't have to deal with this gross bullshit. Nobody deserves to be treated like this.

 

[Siresly]

Ubisoft has announced some measures, but it's toothless unless they get rid of these fuckers high in the hierarchy.

 

[Thiago]

Those are disgusting actions and I'm surprised this thread has so few replies.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Still reading, this one is especially galling:

The article speaks of a transgender woman who, prior to her transition, was treated well, and after her transition, progressively, she started experiencing sexist micro-aggressions, such as being interrupted more often, making more effort to even be listened to, work twice as hard for her opinions to matter, people would sigh whenever she'd speak. This happened daily, and she says she also, on occasion, had some coworkers trying to touch her breasts (?!!! fucking hell).

It gets worse. [cw transphobia] She left the Montreal office, and joined the Paris office. Over there, her superior wasn't much better in terms of micro-aggressions, and at some point he went full mask off: he locked her up in his office for 2h in order to make her "confess that she's not a real woman".

She also spoke up against some coworkers who would openly say things about the fuckability of interns, and got punished for it by earning a reputation for being "oversensitive", "lacking in testosterone" and being "too haughty". On her final evaluation before leaving Ubisoft she was noted as being "too aggressive".

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This is "nuke it from orbit" levels of irredeemably evil. What the everliving fuck.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Google translate is someway reliable between german <> roman language,

But here is a human translation of the (first) article of the french newspaper "Libération".

Dulcamarra's lair

Dulcamarra, artist, web developpement, gaming

www.dulcamarra.net

And parts of the Numérama paper, pointing one of the Ubi boss as a pillar of that system.

Dulcamarra's lair

Dulcamarra, artist, web developpement, gaming

www.dulcamarra.net

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A third witness, Max, also explains: "He's the kind of person who will play 'chat-bite' (translator note: a French game where you play tag on other people's genitals) with his co-workers"

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...
...
what?

 

[Deleted member 23046]

...
...
what?

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It's the regressive version of "You are the cat, catch me" or something, that game you play this in Skyrim with an orphan, in the first town with a Jarl you visit, where you need to touch the NPC, than it's her turn. In all that creepiness, the most frightening thing is how so many people, men in particular but also some women in charge, find this normal on a working place.

 

[Weltall Zero]

It's the regressive version of "You are the cat, catch me" or something, that game you play this in Skyrim with an orphan, in the first town with a Jarl you visit, where you need to touch the NPC, than it's her turn. In all that creepiness, the most frightening thing is how so many people, men in particular but also some women in charge, find this normal on a working place.

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You play tag with other people's genitals in Skyrim?

 

[The_Freeman]

Yeah, that's me done buying their games until the people there have been brought to justice. I feel for all those who have been harassed and abused :(

 

[Deleted member 23046]

You play tag with other people's genitals in Skyrim?

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Nope, I wrotr "It's the regressive version [of a kids game]". I thought you didn't understand what the original game is.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Nope, as I wrote "It's the regressive version [of a kids game]". I thought you didn't understand what the original is.

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You thought that my comment was about not knowing what tag is, as opposed to being shocked that "playing tag with other's genitals" is a common enough game in France to have its own name (and, of course, that it's a game people at Ubi play)?

Like... really? One of these things doesn't strike you as more likely than the other? :D

 

[Deleted member 15311]

Holly shit, they need to clean pretty much most of the higher position people. Even dudes that work there, if they see shit like this, they should be vocal about it.How do you see a coworker be treated like that and just shut up?

That company sounds like hell.

 

[Deleted member 23046]

You thought that my comment was about not knowing what tag is, as opposed to being shocked that "playing tag with other's genitals" is a common enough game in France to have its own name (and, of course, that it's a game people at Ubi play)?

Like... really? One of these things doesn't strike you as more likely than the other? :D

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Meh sorry it's my fault : I didn't read the quote correctly, and it doesn't lead to any confusion on the origin of the game.

 

[janusff]

Wtf just reading about this now. Completely missed this yesterday I guess.

they need to do some serious house cleaning. But this goes pretty high up the chain and kinda doubt much will actually be done. Have they put out a statement or anything bout this shit?

 

[Weltall Zero]

Meh sorry it's my fault : I didn't read the quote correctly, and it doesn't lead to any confusion on the origin of the game.

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Ah, fair enough, that does make more sense. All good!

 

[Dphex]

Yeah, will buy Ubisoft games only second hand from now, they don´t get a penny directly from me anymore

really awful and i have the suspicion a few heads will roll to give the impression they are doing something but there won´t be a big intern change at all. this seems to be going on for a long time now with established structures and an environment protecting the people who are harassing others.

 

[Jawbreaker]

This is sick.

 

[Jawbreaker]

Google translate is someway reliable between german <> roman language,

But here is a human translation of the (first) article of the french newspaper "Libération".

Dulcamarra's lair

Dulcamarra, artist, web developpement, gaming

www.dulcamarra.net

And parts of the Numérama paper, pointing one of the Ubi boss as a pillar of that system.

Dulcamarra's lair

Dulcamarra, artist, web developpement, gaming

www.dulcamarra.net

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Thank you. I added them to the OP.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

They are "at the heart of the value creation in the video game industry", according to the financial report from Yves Guillemot, CEO

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Boycott UBI, and they become the heart of value destruction.

 

[z1ggy]

This is sick.

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Fuck Ubisoft, damn this is beyond disgusting...

 

[Morrigan]

This is sick.

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But Yves promised us industry-wide changes /s

 

[Maxime]

Ubisoft on Libération's front page again tomorrow:

https://twitter.com/erwancario/status/1281650102856105986

​

This time the focus is Ubisoft's Number 2 Serge Hascoët but also what is called the "HR wall", which protected the top management during all these years. Ahead of Ubi's event, I am glad medias are keeping the pressure on them.

Edit: Article is up (FR, paywall):

Harcèlement sexuel à Ubisoft : «On savait»

La mise en place d’une cellule de crise après les accusations publiées dans «Libération» n’a pas empêché la multiplication des témoignages décrivant la culture toxique à l’œuvre dans l’entreprise de jeux vidéo. Beaucoup pointent le numéro 2, Serge Hascoët.

www.liberation.fr

 

[Thomasorus]

TW: sexual language and harassment.

Some excerpts:

About Hascoet:

"According to what the alerts tell us, Serge did not commit a sexual assault," said a source at HR head office. But he is the one who made this toxic culture possible. Everyone knows about him, knows him for that. He is even valued for his toxicity, for his misogyny, his homophobia, his method of managing by crushing others. For his permanent libidinous behavior. And today, some people are still understating his behavior, saying he is a creative person. "

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On numerous occasions during the investigation, our witnesses spoke of the dog growls that Serge Hascoët allegedly made in front of women. A dozen alerts confirmed it. "He allegedly blocked a woman in the elevator and stuck to her, growling and staring at her. Other editorial lieutenants would have done the same, to the point that it became a trademark, "

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EDIT:

In the Editorial, we are thus confirmed a testimony collected by Liberation ten days earlier: "Serge, surrounded by his vice-presidents, said that this" badly fucked" [women] hampered his creativity and that he needed to enlarge her mind "with big dicks blows in the behind" and "gang rape her until it understands". »

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Note: it's kinda hard to translate this for obvious reasons, he did not used the word gang rape but referred to the term "taking turns" which refers to a "tournante", a gang rape in french.

About the revelations and their effects, it seems it's becoming harder for women:

"Since your revelations, the situation here has gotten worse. The reactions in the production studios are extreme. All the chiefs have been instructed to speak to the employees, but they do so only by obligation. They remain convinced that this affects their freedom. They call it "a witch hunt". In addition to the rest, as a woman, we have become a threat. It's far from pleasant to live. "

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Around 100 incidents were revealed and 50% of them were known by HR, and 25% of them are related to hascoet or the editorial team. But HR refuses to take responsibility:

During a videoconference, the 90 human resources managers attended a speech described by one of our witnesses as "ludicrous". "The head of HR of Montreal intervenes and says:" These articles are unfair, and if Yves [Guillemot, the CEO, editor's note] does not make a public statement to exonerate HR, it's simple, I leave Ubi with half of my team, " says Romane. After him, all his lieutenants continued with "I agree", "I agree" ... "

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"It was insane, adds Romane, our discussions were taking a strange turn, many HR placed themselves in the position of victim. "While it is entirely understandable that not all HR departments are responsible for concealing toxic behavior, it is still a collective failure."

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[Maxime]

https://twitter.com/W_Chloe/status/1281655651048009729

​

- about a hundred cases have come up, from sexual harassment to rape.
- half of the cases were known to HR
- a quarter of the complaints concern the editorial department and Serge Hascoët

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This is just sickening.

 

[Jawbreaker]

https://twitter.com/W_Chloe/status/1281655651048009729

​

This is just sickening.

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Un-fucking believable. Ubisoft is rotten from the core.

 

[Elios83]

And on the outside they took pride of things like the so bold and inclusive decision to put Cassandra in Odyssey....while on the inside they were totally rotten.
This should teach a lesson about how all these companies care about is image return not actual values.

 

[Jawbreaker]

TW: sexual language and harassment.

Some excerpts:

About Hascoet:




EDIT:


Note: it's kinda hard to translate this for obvious reasons, he did not used the word gang rape but referred to the term "taking turns" which refers to a "tournante", a gang rape in french.

About the revelations and their effects, it seems it's becoming harder for women:


Around 100 incidents were revealed and 50% of them were known by HR, and 25% of them are related to hascoet or the editorial team. But HR refuses to take responsibility:

Click to shrink...

I don't even know where to begin with all of this. I'm glad it's all coming to light now, though. This shit needs to change.

 

[Scuffed]

While there are several publishers that have problems I think currently Ubisoft is by far the worst. I also feel like the response to these rampant allegations has been rather muted from the gaming community. We have threads around here that blow up when publishers are called out for various things but for some reason these threads on on Ubisoft go nowhere despite the conduct involved being so extremely bad.

 

[Thomasorus]

Oh my...

In May 2017, in front of the various Ubisoft CEs assembled, the CEO, Yves Guillemot, was questioned about the difficult coexistence with a "star" employee, Michel Ancel, creator of Rayman, who benefits from preferential treatment. The CEO's response, transcribed in an internal document that Liberation was able to consult: "Someone like him helps to change the perception that people have of Ubisoft [...]. Michel Ancel has a status equivalent to other stars in the industry, which it is very difficult to change, it is up to staff representatives and human resources to find ways to protect the people who work with him. " A sense of priorities that we find more violently in the words of one of our sources, who reports that the head of HR, Cécile Cornet, would have explained in early 2019 that "Yves is OK with toxic management, as long as the results of these managers exceed their level of toxicity ".

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Apparently Yves Guillemot did not realize how bad it was. According to the article he asked to be notified of all cases instead of ignoring them. The article talks about an electric choc for the direction and higher ups, who are losing their landmarks.

 

[chris 1515]

Disgusting...

 

[mbpm]

TW: sexual language and harassment.

Some excerpts:

About Hascoet:




EDIT:


Note: it's kinda hard to translate this for obvious reasons, he did not used the word gang rape but referred to the term "taking turns" which refers to a "tournante", a gang rape in french.

About the revelations and their effects, it seems it's becoming harder for women:


Around 100 incidents were revealed and 50% of them were known by HR, and 25% of them are related to hascoet or the editorial team. But HR refuses to take responsibility:

Click to shrink...

It sounds like a thin blue line over at ubisoft

Clearly it is top to bottom

 

[rras1994]

I feel sick reading those quotes.