Ubisoft CEO summoned to court in harassment case

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CW: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has been summoned to appear before the Bobigny District Court on October 1.

Via the French news network BFM TV, the company received a subpoena from the Solidaires Informatiques union and four other individuals. This is in relation to the harassment allegations against three former Ubisoft executives during court hearings back in June.

A month later, the French court sentenced three former Ubisoft executives to suspended prison terms, with charges including sexual assault and “enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment.”

Specifically, the convictions entail former editorial vice president Thomas François, who was convicted on a charge of attempted sexual assault was handed a suspended three-year term. Former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët was given an 18-month suspended sentence, while former games director Gillaume Patrux received a 12-month suspended sentence.

In a statement provided by Ubisoft, a spokesperson said the civil parties and facts are the same as those involved and judged by the court this past June, following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The spokesperson also noted that, after that investigation, and “contrary to the civil parties’ requests,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided that there were “no grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against Ubisoft or its management,” a decision it “confirmed during its closing arguments at the hearing last June.”

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Ubisoft says protecting physical and moral integrity of employees is its ‘top priority’

The statement goes on to say that Ubisoft will continue to cooperate with the justice system in this matter, “as it has done over the past five years in the review of the facts” related to this case.

“Our top priority is to ensure the absolute protection of the physical and moral integrity of its employees, through a policy of prevention and zero tolerance with regard to sexual or moral harassment, sexist behavior, assault, insult, or discrimination of any kind,” Ubisoft executive vice president Cecile Russeil stated.

The hearings took place over four days at the beginning of June. As reported by The Guardian, the court was told how the aforementioned Ubisoft executives frequently abused their power to harass and bully employees.

The women who previously worked at Ubisoft described how they were subjected to constant comments about sex and their bodies, made to endure sexist and homophobic jokes, and touched physically without consent.

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During the hearings, François, Hascoët, and Patrux denied all charges. State prosecutor Antoine Haushalter, however, said the case revealed “overwhelming” evidence of harassment within Ubisoft and claimed the video game industry has “systemic” issues with sexism and abuse.

The news comes a month after Ubisoft confirmed it laid off 19 people at Ubisoft Red Storm. The redundancies happened four months after securing a $1.25 billion investment from Tencent, and they followed hundreds of job cuts and studio closures over the past year. At the beginning of the year, Ubisoft said it must take “decisive steps” to reshape its business and “drive significant cost reductions.”

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