A survey was conducted at Ubisoft involving its employees, concerning the complaints of harassment, misconduct, and sexism many have experienced in the company. Unfortunately, the results are morbidly unsurprising for those who have been paying attention to the French gaming company’s recent headline appearances.
Early this summer, a report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier set in motion the resignation and removal of many Ubisoft employees, after uncovering evidence of toxic behavior within the company, especially towards disparaged minorities. Many top Ubisoft employees are no longer with the company, including leads one of the studio’s biggest franchises, Assassin’s Creed. Additionally, former managerial staff member Michel Ancel, who was in charge of Beyond Good & Evil 2, recently departed amid investigations into his behavior, though he claims the departure was unrelated.
A Ubisoft’s PR message obtained by Kotaku detailed a survey that took place over the summer. It covered the many systematic issues recently outed within the company including sexual harassment, misogyny, and even violent behavior. It may not be shocking to see the statistic of women being 30% more likely to experience, witness, or hear about discrimination at Ubisoft. However, the survey also showed that an entire quarter of the staff reported witnessing or experiencing the misconduct first-hand. And though Ubisoft may not discriminate against non-binary folks in terms of hiring on paper, they are 43% more likely to experience it behind company lines.
Additionally, many Ubisoft employees feelt doubtful major changes would be made to company policy that would eliminate the toxic behavior. Of respondents, 20% said they didn’t feel “fully respected or safe in the work environment,” and following the survey, only two-thirds of the respondents felt they have received the support they needed. It’s worth noting that the parameters for the survey were not disclosed in Kotaku’s report, so a level of discretion should be taken by onlookers until further details are noted.
One would hope that Yves Guillemot’s public statements, along with the survey, would mean widespread company change, but some recent events may negate these hopes. Last month, an Assassin’s Creed ad that left out any female protagonists was unveiled, despite widespread criticism of the sidelining of female characters.
Also in September, Ubisoft held a live conference UbiForward event and made a statement about what was being done to eradicate the toxic behavior around the company. However, rather than being played at the beginning of the conference, it was uploaded as a separate video onto YouTube. Still, the French gaming company defends its actions as well-intended and hopes to make improvements in the future.
Source: Kotaku
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