Ubisoft announces structural reforms in response to sexual misconduct allegations
Company to shake-up its editorial team and appoint a head of diversity and inclusion, among other measures
Ubisoft has announced several structural reforms amid investigations into sexual misconduct allegations at the company.
In a letter titled ‘Change Starts Today’, which was sent to staff this week and reposted on the French firm’s website, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot outlined a number of measures designed to improve workplace culture at the Assassin’s Creed publisher.
These include shaking up Ubisoft’s editorial team, which oversees the creative direction of all its games, the appointment of a new head of workplace culture, the creation of a head of diversity and inclusion role, a review of the company’s policies and procedures, and the launch of employee listening sessions and a global staff survey.
“The situations that some of you have experienced or witnessed are absolutely not acceptable,” Guillemot wrote. “No one should ever feel harassed or disrespected at work, and the types of inappropriate behavior we have recently learned about cannot and will not be tolerated.
“To those of you who have spoken up or have supported colleagues, I want to be clear: you are heard, and you are helping drive necessary change within the company.
“We have significant work to do to improve the ways in which we operate and collaborate, and I am personally committed to ensuring we make these fundamental changes,” Guillemot added. “They need to be profound, and we need to implement them quickly at all levels of the organization.
“Specifically, I have decided to revise the composition of the Editorial Department, transform our human resource processes, and improve the accountability of all managers on these subjects.”
Ubisoft recently suspended two of its most senior games creatives as part of ongoing investigations into sexual misconduct allegations.
Executives Tommy Francois and Maxime Béland have been put on administrative leave, along with several other employees.
The suspensions follow a recent wave of allegations made against people in the games industry.
Earlier this month Dying Light 2 studio Techland cut ties with prominent game writer Chris Avellone after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.
Further reading
Ubisoft revamps editorial team to make its games more unique
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