Ubisoft Employees Letter Demands Change; Stands With Acti-Blizz

See, I think a petty man would open this article asking Yves if he was entirely correct about his assessment back in May. So, Yves, which is it? You, stating that the company has taken great strides to correct the ills of your executive employees and longtime friends, or the employees, for which a union is suing for a lack of action. After recent events, I’m willing to hedge my bets that the latter is closer to the truth. Your employees not only stand in solidary of Activision-Blizzard employees, and criticize your company, but also call for industry-wide action.

In an open letter first reported on by Axios.com, nearly 500 employees of the French development and publishing giant signed an open letter, stating solidary following the reveal of the Activision-Blizzard lawsuit. Stephen Totilo, the writer of the story for Axios, published the letter in full on Twitter (shown below). The open letter comes following the Activision-Blizzard employees writing their own, with over 2,000 signatures of current and former employees. In it, employees of Ubisoft state their solidary with those at Activision-Blizzard, with the reveal of the situation rocking a majority of the industry with the details of the lawsuit. “It is clear, from the frequency of these reports [… of] widespread abusive culture[…]. It should no longer be surprising to anyone: Employees, executives, journalists, or fans.”

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

Following that, the letter goes on to focus on the internal struggle the employees have at Ubisoft, stating their displeasure with the lack of action done by those in power. After recounting the public reaction to the revelation last year, the letter states: “[W]e 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.” Furthermore, the letter goes on to call for “fundamental changes, within Ubisoft, within Activision-Blizzard, and across the industry.”

In a further update from Totilo, he shares the statement from Ubisoft, which is as you’d expect, running the usual lines. “We have carefully read the letter signed by former and current Ubisoft employees. […] We want to be very clear that we take this letter — and the issues it raises — very seriously. Ubisoft has made significant and meaningful changes that seek to create a safe and inclusive work environment for all, and there is still more work to be done.” It continues with further comments on their commitments to engage with employees to create said safe working environments.

In yet another update from Totilo, he shares the internal email from Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, to employees, which following recounts of the letter the actions over the last year. He goes on to state, “We have heard clearly from this letter that not everyone is confident in the processes that have been put in place to manage misconduct reports.” This continues with a piece about an independent system put in place following last year’s revelation (Anika), and the current project to hire a new VP of Global Employee Relations.

Guillemot goes on to state the listening sessions that have taken place since last year, and other minor steps taken by the company to look busy in the wake of what happened. Arguably, and it may be me looking for the light at the end of a very dark tunnel here, he also states further updates will be made in Q3 of this year and asks employees to keep sharing their feedback. The trouble is, what little has been done by the management thus far has generated such striking feedback it took another company’s lack of action for employees to be heard clearly.

Furthermore, another statement was made by Ubisoft employees following Yves’ email. The statement, once again share by Totilo and GamesIndustry.biz, notes that employees are happy to see that “Yves and the leadership team agree that it is not enough,” in terms of actions done so far by the company. However, they go on to state that a majority of the issues raised are “sidelined,” and “Ubisoft continues to protect and promote known offenders and their allies.” With the rather damning statement, “We see management continuing to avoid this issue.”

The group further goes on to bullet point their issues, to be as clear as day in their intentions. The first of which states, “Stop promoting, and moving known offenders from studio to studio, team to team with no repercussions. This cycle needs to stop.” The second, demands a metaphorical seat at the table collectively for employees, looking to set out how the company moves forward from here on out. The third asks for an industry-wide collaboration on setting out how to move forward with these situations, with a demand that employees be involved in how this is constructed, and not done through a proxy such as management or union-representative.