Some of you may remember that Ubisoft was recently rocked by accusations of sexual misconduct, harassment and assault, and rape against female staff members within the company. While several figureheads accused of these crimes are no longer with the company, they were allowed to resign, get a payout and keep other bonuses. The sad reality is that Ubisoft higher-ups like Yves Guillemot didn’t and still don’t care about the victims of the culture they managed and covered up. It seems the staff have realised this, mentioning it during a letter of solidarity; close to 500 of them have written in support of Activision Blizzard staff that have also been victims of a culture of rampant sexual discrimination, harassment and assault.
Originally reported Axios, close to 500 Ubisoft employees have written a letter of support for the Activision Blizzard employees that staged a walkout. The letter by Ubisoft employees can be found in a tweet below by Axios writer Stephen Totilo.
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/WMNmRHjrq0
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) July 28, 2021
Not only does this letter support Activision Blizzard employees, but the Ubisoft staff also have a strong message to their own management:
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 employees also went on to say
We have stood by and watched as you fired only the most public offenders. You let the rest either resign or worse, promoted them, moved them from studio to studio, team to team, giving them second chance after second chance with no repercussions. This cycle needs to stop.
While it’s massively disappointing that Ubisoft is still allowing sexual predators to remain within the company, some promoted, it shouldn’t come as a surprise following the allegations highlighting the same thing has occurred for years in the past. Much like Bobby Kotick’s recent letter, everything said by the company simply rings of lip service to placate short-memoried consumers and the investors.
This isn’t just a call for staff at the two companies to walk out, nor is it a call for just the two companies to sort themselves out. This is a call for Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and other leading publishers to lead a united effort to protect staff industry-wide. However, this push should include staff at all levels because, and these are my words, management like Yves Guillemot and Bobby Kotick have proven we cannot trust them to do the right thing.
While I constantly hope that any post will be my last one talking about discrimination, sexual assault or the atrocious management of companies, I sadly don’t think it will be. If the recent walkout of Activision Blizzard staff and this letter of support from Ubisoft Staff is the beginning of something bigger, at least something good has come from these horrible events.
