back to article Top Ubisoft execs eject after staff complain of 'toxic' workplace environment for women at Canadian studios

Three senior Ubisoft execs quit over the weekend amid claims of widespread sexual harassment within the video-game giant's Canadian wing. Chief creative officer Serge Hascoët resigned effective immediately on Sunday. Yves Guillemot, CEO and cofounder of Ubisoft, will take over Hascoët's duties for now, and promised an overhaul …

  1. sanmigueelbeer

    Ubisoft Forward Conference goes Backwards

    held its Forward conference

    Oh, that was a funny event. When people started logging in, the authentication server got swamped and sank.

    (Take note this event happened on a Sunday.)

    Good job, Ubi.

    1. DrXym

      Re: Ubisoft Forward Conference goes Backwards

      They all wanted the free game, not because they cared about the event itself.

  2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    The Games Industry

    I can't remember the last time I heard a good story from inside a AAA studio...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Games Industry

      You have just to look at how women are depicted in games to understand what kind of culture is mainstream there.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Games Industry

        Which games are you meaning? Has it by any chance been a decade+ since you last played any mainstream video games?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The Games Industry

          Maybe you get so used to it you can't understand what you're watching at?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: The Games Industry

            So you can't name any modern mainstream games to back up your assertion, and are just mindlessly spouting crap about things you've no experience with then? Okay.

      2. Claptrap314 Silver badge

        Re: The Games Industry

        And you just have to look at the target market (13 year-old males) to understand how women are depicted in games.

        Evolutionary psychology + modern marketing = ugly truths we'ld like to ignore getting in our faces.

    2. karlkarl Silver badge

      Re: The Games Industry

      I notice the average maturity of the management in AAA studios is much lower than a company doing proper software engineering. This used to make it fast and dynamic, but nowadays it risks filling a company up with arses.

      Also, with so much middleware and tools available today, you no longer get the truly introverted but highly talented developers. You mostly just get immature (hate to say it) white males(TM) who in the past have been the target demographic of games.

      [yes, I say this as a white male myself and after spending countless years in a AAA studio rehashing up the same old game, time after time. Been there, done that. I never saw a "female" there so I guess I was lucky I never saw anyone being mistreated (based on gender at least)]

  3. Bitsminer Silver badge

    Rude?

    What, Canadians accused of being rude? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

    1. seven of five

      Re: Rude?

      Go, nice to meet you and have a pleasant day, sir, yourself? *holds door open*

  4. eldakka
    Coat

    Male staffers openly displayed pornography in front of their female colleagues,

    Wait, isn't that being inclusive? Wouldn't showing it only to male colleagues be sexist?

    (Of course, pron shouldn't be showing at this* type of work at all anyway!)

    * 'this' type of work not being porn-related employment. It would be perfectly acceptable to show porn at work if the work was porn-related obviously, such as a porn filming studio or business that runs pornhub for example.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Male staffers openly displayed pornography in front of their female colleagues,"

      None of the male staff were likely to complain if the female colleagues had shown then porn, so we don't really know the full extent of things.

      And what of the female staff showing other female stag porn, was that counted or not.

      The world has become a very inclusive place in the last few weeks. Aren't we supposed to be pro everything nowadays. It's ok for someone to cut, stitch and sew genitals onto themselves in the name of diversity and equality but it's not ok to see a naked body... How are we supposed to know what's Ok and what's not..

      1. LucreLout

        How are we supposed to know what's Ok and what's not..

        I'm pretty relaxed about how my team behave within reason, however, none of them would be in any doubt that to display adult images at work would not be ok. It would, in fact, be straight to HR for a disciplinary.

        The idea is that everyone should feel comfortable at work and feel able to offer their best without being criticised for who they are. Some women get uncomfortable seeing naked images just as some straight guys get uncomfortable seeing gay versions of same.

        Even in finance, its not the 80s anymore, and this sort of behaviour is frankly unacceptable. I don't understand why some people still feel it might be.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Male staffers openly displayed pornography in front of their female colleagues

      If only it were just that.

  5. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    One problem amongst many...

    I think this is one problem amongst many at Ubi if the recent showcase of Assassins Creed Valhalla is anything to go by. I really enjoyed Odyssey (except the Medusa) but was expecting more than just a bland reskin for the new instalment.

    1. Kane
      Joke

      Re: One problem amongst many...

      "Assassins Creed Valhalla"

      Surely you mean that Witcher 3 reskin?

    2. Kevin Johnston

      Re: One problem amongst many...

      I get the feeling that anything produced by Ubisoft over the last couple of years is just a mash-up of a handful of titles in the hope it made the game interesting to people who hadn't tried that series before. While totally hacking off everyone who had been playing the series since Episode 1

  6. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

    Guillemot of course has been completely unaware what's been going on at Ubisoft for three decades.

  7. tonyyaman

    sack all the male staff for what they are doing to the woman its unreal if it was the other way round them not like it sack them all good riddance to bad rubbish make sure them not get another job anywhere garbage the lot of them

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Court cases

    The upcoming court cases will be very interesting.

    May justice prevail.

    1. Claptrap314 Silver badge

      Re: Court cases

      That would require that the lawyers lose at least occasionally, correct?

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