Ubisoft employees have written an open letter expressing solidarity with Activision Blizzard employees taking part in a walkout protesting the company’s response to a lawsuit alleging discrimination and sexual harassment at the company. The letter, which according to Axios has been signed by nearly 500 current and former Ubisoft employees, also calls on Ubisoft management to address the company’s own problems with misconduct and abuse.
“To the workers of Activision Blizzard, we hear you and want to loudly declare our solidarity with you,” the letter states. “Over the past week, the games industry has once again been rocked by revelations that have long been known by too many of us. Revelations that a year ago many were hearing about Ubisoft.”
“It is clear, from the frequency of these reports, that there is a widespread and deeply ingrained culture of abusive behaviour within the industry. It should no longer be a surprise to anyone: employees, executives, journalists, or fans that these heinous acts are going on. It is time to stop being shocked. We must demand real steps be taken to prevent them. Those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.”
Activision Blizzard employees are currently staging a one-day work stoppage spurred by last week’s lawsuit, as well as the company’s initial response to it: Some executives, such as Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and Activision president Rob Kostich, acknowledged the claims as “completely unacceptable” and “deeply disturbing,” but Activision Blizzard chief compliance officer Frances Townsend dismissed the suit as “untrue” and “factually incorrect.” A week later, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick acknowledged that the company’s response was “tone deaf.”
Following the expression of solidarity with Activision Blizzard employees, the authors of the letter turn their attention to Ubisoft’s own problems.
“We, the undersigned, have had enough,” it says. “It has been over a year since the first revelations of systemic discrimination, harassment and bullying within Ubisoft came out. At the time, you acted surprised to hear of these acts going on within your own company and we gave you the benefit of the doubt. However, we have seen nothing more than a year of kind words, empty promises, and an inability or unwillingness to remove known offenders. We no longer trust your commitment to address these issues at their core. You need to do more.”
The letter alleges that Ubisoft management has only taken action against “the most public offenders,” while others have been allowed to resign or have been transferred or, in some cases, promoted away from the problems they caused. It demands that they be fired instead, and also calls for “a seat at the table [for employees] when it comes to deciding how to move forward from here.”
Here’s the letter in full. It doesn’t just stand with AB workers, doesn’t just criticize Ubisoft bosses. It calls for industry-wide action and change, with publishers and developers getting involved. pic.twitter.com/WMNmRHjrq0July 28, 2021
Several high-profile Ubisoft employees, including vice president Maxime Beland, chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, Canadian studios managing director Yannis Mallat, and global head of human resources Cécile Cornet all left Ubisoft following allegations of workplace misconduct throughout the company, but none were fired; Ubisoft Singapore managing director Hugues Ricour was removed from his position in late 2020 following an investigation into multiple complaints of sexual harassment, but he wasn’t fired either: Instead, he was transferred to Ubisoft’s head office in Paris, and now serves as the company’s production intelligence director.
Beyond demanding internal housecleaning at Ubisoft, the employees also proposed an industry-wide approach to dealing with an industry-wide problem, calling on Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and “other industry-leading publishers and developers” to work together to create processes for dealing with abusive behavior.
“This collaboration must heavily involve employees in non-management positions and union representatives,” the letter says. “This is essential to ensure that those who are directly affected by these behaviours are leading the change.”
Like Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft is also facing legal action over allegations of workplace abuses: Earlier this month, the French workers union Solidaires Informatique filed a complaint against the company claiming that executives including CEO Yves Guillemot have enabled and encouraged a culture of “institutional sexual harassment” at the company.