Another Executive Walks Away From Ubisoft

The continuing Ubisoft abuse scandal has now seen another executive walk away from the global company, seemingly with little to no consequence. Tommy François, one of the Vice Presidents in Ubisoft’s Editorial department, had been previously put on leave in June following multiple claims of misconduct and pending an investigation. On August 3rd, it was confirmed to Gameindustry.biz that he had left the company “effective immediately”.

This is another disappointing moment in a string of disappointing moments in Ubisoft’s response since allegations of abuse of all kinds started making waves in early June. François’ departure follows that of several other high-profile names: Maxime Béland, Vice President of Editorial; Serge Hascoët, Chief Creative Officer; Yannis Mallat, Head of Ubisoft Canada; Cécile Cornet, Global Head of Human Resources; and Ashraf Ismail, Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

The way that these people have simply been allowed to walk away from Ubisoft in the wake of this scandal is appalling. Multitudes of reasons have been given, and almost none have been explicit enough to connect them with any accusations of misconduct. Stepping down, resigning, leaving the company – that’s not being fired or having your employment terminated. Publicly, the only person we know has been fired from Ubisoft is Stone Chin, who has refuted the idea his firing has anything to do with the 2012 sexual assault allegation against him.

Being allowed to resign quietly and slink away preserves, for the most part, the reputation of the people involved. It allows Ubisoft to suggest that, despite allegedly ongoing investigations and publicly damning stories from staff, they most definitely weren’t harboring a workplace culture filled with abuse and abusers. We know that they were – by their own admission, they were.

Ubisoft clearly has reasons to get each of these names out of the door but have been unwilling to terminate them. Letting them walk away is the soft alternative. The easy mode, if you will. Troubling allegations require hard answers, and so far, Ubisoft is not living up to statements that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot made about abusive behavior not being tolerated.

Recently, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, “I have never compromised on my core values and ethics and never will.” Unfortunately, this rash of prominent Ubisoft individuals quitting with no accountability seemingly demonstrates that Ubisoft’s core values are very weak indeed.