Back in 2023, several former Ubisoft executives were taken into custody by French police, following allegations of sexual harassment, workplace abuse, sexism and violence in 2020. Now, some of those executives have appeared in court in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis to defend their alleged role in cultivating a workplace where women were frequently assaulted or humiliated by senior members of staff.
The former Ubisoft executives in question are Serge Hascoët, former chief creative officer, who resigned after the 2020 allegations, and is accused of sexual harassment and bullying. According to his lawyer, he “denies any knowledge of reprehensible acts committed by collaborators at Ubisoft and did not receive any reports of this.” Former vice-president of editorial and creative services Tommy François is also accused of sexual harassment, bullying and attempted sexual assault. He denies all charges. Former game director Guillaume Patrux, finally, is accused of sexual harassment and bullying. He, too, denies all charges.
As reported by the Guardian, the court proceedings include more details about the allegations against the three executives, and what one Ubisoft staffer characterised as a “boys’ club above the law”. All the events in question were said to have taken place between 2012 and 2020.
Amongst other accusations, one woman was reportedly informed that wearing a coat with a red lining was “an invitation to rape”, while another was told that her outfit had given somebody an erection. The most serious allegations include tying a female employee to a chair with a roll of tape and pushing her into an elevator. The same woman allegedly had her face drawn on with a marker pen and was forced to attend a meeting without washing it off. Some men are said to have been targeted, with one office game involving touching their genitals through their trousers.
There are also claims of religious hatred. A Muslim developer reports being ostracised after the 2015 jihadist Bataclan concert hall attacks in Paris. She also allegedly found bacon sandwiches placed on her desk or thrown at her during Ramadan.
During the court proceedings, a few of the individual alleged abuses were attributed to the three former Ubisoft executives on trial. Hascoët is said to have told staff that he should have sex with a colleague in a meeting room in front of everyone “to show how to calm her”. François is accused of trying to kiss a woman on the mouth while his colleagues restrained her by the arms and back at an office Christmas party in 2015. François reportedly told the court this week that “I never tried to harm anyone” and that there had been a “culture of joking around.”
As for Patrux, the allegations against him include miming physical attacks on staff, throwing equipment across an open plan office space, drawing swastikas on a woman’s notebook during a meeting, and cracking a whip near colleagues’ faces.
Back in 2020, Ubisoft apologised to “everyone affected” by the reported harassment and abuse, and announced plans to audit “our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behaviour.” In November 2021, current and former Ubisoft staff launched a public petition condemning the company for a lack of meaningful or transparent progress on this front.
In 2022, CEO Yves Guillemot responded to criticism of Ubisoft’s efforts to make amends by saying “we have done a lot and I think we are a company that can be proud of itself”, pointing to the swift dismissal of certain reported offenders, including Patrux. Ubisoft have yet to respond to this week’s revelations.
