A YouTube video has started the #HoldUbisoftAccountable trend on Twitter in response to Ubisoft's recent game releases and abuse allegations. Sexual misconduct and abuse allegations within Ubisoft first emerged in 2020. The reports stated that these abusive practices reached top executives in the company, including HR director Cécile Cornet, who stepped down in July 2020. Several former employees and developers within Ubisoft corroborated stories of sexual abuse by top executives that HR did nothing about based on reports. According to the reports, accusations were deliberately ignored under the direction of Cornet in order to protect the alleged offenders.
Despite several high-profile resignations, it appears that attempts at cultural changes at Ubisoft have yielded minimal results. This lack of progress is partly because some of the accused individuals are still in higher-ranked positions within Ubisoft. In the Canadian branch, abuse claims were allegedly tossed out despite Christophe Derennes (Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's cousin) taking over in July 2020. It appears that Ubisoft's seemingly continuing practices are now being called out by the community
A recent video by YouTuber LazerzZ goes into detail about why he no longer can support Ubisoft. He began the video by presenting the #HoldUbisoftAccountable hashtag to get people talking online. LazerzZ says the company no longer makes games fitting a specific genre, opting to cater toward a general audience. The specific example is Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which he believes no longer deserves the title of a stealth game and exemplifies the company's predatory practices. He cites the RPG elements and bloated open-world as purposefully designed to get players to spend money on microtransactions for shortcuts despite playing a single-player game. LazerzZ also believes that its practice to "water down" its game franchises to make more profit with a general audience is misconstrued as evolution by the media.
LazerzZ's message is to get the games community as a whole to stop letting Ubisoft get away with its litany of problems and abusive culture. He explicitly calls for Guillemot to step down as CEO of Ubisoft, who LazerzZ claims is part of the problem. He also says that the company's minimal progress in rectifying the issues at hand, coupled with both the industry and media all but forgetting the allegations months later to praise Valhalla, contribute to the company's issues.
Many in the community have already chimed in with either praise for LazerzZ or their thoughts on the topic. With E3 right around the corner, Ubisoft is once again under scrutiny for its practices. Screen Rant recently reached out to Ubisoft to discuss the ongoing accusations, and their response is included below:
Over a period of several months, Ubisoft has implemented major changes across its organization, internal processes and procedures in order to guarantee a safe, inclusive and respectful working environment for all team members. These changes include the following:
Anonymous reporting tools for misconduct have been implemented and are accessible to all team members around the world.
All allegations raised have been thoroughly investigated by independent external experts. A number of these have resulted in disciplinary action, including dismissal.
We have put in place training on appropriate workplace conduct for all our team members around the world, with more and ongoing training programs to come.
We have completely revamped our code of conduct and it will serve as the cornerstone of our workplace guidelines moving forward.
We have appointed Lidwine Sauer as Head of Workplace Culture to ensure the longevity of the changes that have and will continue to be put in place.
We have also revamped our HR processes and appointed a new Chief People Officer, Anika Grant, as well as reinforced our Diversity and Inclusion strategy with the appointment of Raashi Sikka, our new VP of Global Diversity and Inclusion.
These concrete actions demonstrate the profound changes that have taken place at every level of the company. Additional initiatives are underway and are being rolled out over the coming months. We are committed to strengthening our culture and values in the long term, to help ensure every team member at Ubisoft is heard, respected and valued in the workplace.
Source: LazerzZ/Youtube