Five former executives from Ubisoft have been arrested this week following a year-long investigation into sexual assault and harassment.
French police took several men into custody
According to French newspaper Libération (via Gamesindustry.biz), three arrests were made earlier this week on October 3, with another two men taken into custody on Wednesday. Those arrested include former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët and ex-VP of editorial and creative services Tommy François.
The five former executives will now give testimony to the police in the event that a criminal trial occurs, although it’s unclear what the next steps in the matter will be.
Both Hascoët and François left the company in 2020 following a litany of allegations of abuse and harassment within Ubisoft. At the time, Hascoët oversaw most of the creative direction of games and franchises while François was in charge of Ubisoft’s World Texture Facility, a database that contains artwork and research capabilities.
Following their leave in 2020, various current and former employees made allegations of physical assault, racist and homophobic remarks, and more existing within the company.
In a statement to Libération, the plaintiff’s lawyer Maude Beckers said that the case “reveals systemic sexual violence,” but didn’t go into many more details at this time. Ubisoft also responded to a statement from Gamesindustry.biz by saying that it had “no knowledge of what has been shared and therefore can’t comment.”