Watchdog Looks Into Ubisoft Studio Over Misconduct

This was a story that dominated a large portion of our coverage in 2020, as Ubisoft’s storied harassment cases were brought to public light in the middle of last year. However, over the proceeding year, the traction made by those at the French-led publishing and development studios died down for quite a while. Then back in May the news had picked up again, as employees said nothing had been done, while CEO Yves Guillemot said it was All Quiet on the Western Front. This was before the DFEH began its legal battle with Activision-Blizzard, and Ubisoft employees wrote an open letter in support of the Activision-Blizzard employee walk-out and a request for industry-wide change.

In a report published by Kotaku last month, the site accounts in detail from current and former employees of the Ubisoft Singapore studio on the harassment and discrimination that run rife throughout the studio. As noted by Zoë last year, the studio’s head Hugues Ricour, departed the studio’s leadership role around this time last year, but would ultimately only be reshuffled to the company’s headquarters in France. The final segment is something that was not publicly known, even within the Singapore studio, until November of last year.

Moreover, a large portion of the studio’s history has not been publicly spoken about since then, with Kotaku’s report last month shining new light on circumstances a majority would not know. For example, the report mentions government subsidies given to Ubisoft for running the studio, training young professionals, and effectively growing a talent pool to develop experience and move on. However, as the report suggests, staff were demoralized to think they couldn’t move on. Young Singapore nationals would be so unpaid that they’d live with their parents long into their 20s, and there was sustained harassment by colleagues and management.

Following the Kotaku article last month with interviews of numerous former and current employees of the Singapore-based studio that currently employs roughly 500 staff, English-language and Singapore-based broadsheet The Straits Times, discussed the further developments on the studio’s history of misconduct. According to the Straits Times, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) contacted the newspaper about “anonymous feedback” provided to it, linking to articles of Ubisoft Singapore’s troubled history. As the Straits Times mentions, the TAFEP is urging anyone with knowledge of criminal conduct that has taken place at the studio to come forward.

When asked about the allegations of misconduct at the studio, new studio head Darryl Long said, “It’s very important that we can talk about these things and that we acknowledge what’s going on in our industry right now.” Long goes on to say, “We need to start to change the way we are perceived and the way we act internally as well.” Moreover, Long contests that the studio does not tolerate any harassment, discrimination, or misconduct, going further to discuss third-party HR firm, Wellness Associates looking into complaints filled. “I acknowledge that the studio has seen some challenges over the past decade and there is still work to be done about our studio culture,”

Despite Long’s assurances of his and the company’s zero-tolerance policy on these acts, when current and former staff spoke to Kotaku, they mentioned discrimination of pay based on race. If the studio is found to have a history of workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, religion, or language, it could mean the company is in breach of the Ministry of Manpower’s Fair Consideration Framework. This could result in the Ministry of Manpower barring Ubisoft from applying for new or renewing what is the equivalent of work visas for anything between 12-24 months.

Furthermore, anyone found guilty of sexual misconduct could face jail time or fines. When the Straits Times spoke with lawyer Amolat Singh, of Amolat & Partners, Mr. Singh pointed out that if the company knows of sexual misconduct, it should report it to the police. As the article denotes from Mr. Singh’s remarks, this is to prevent the company from having a conflict of interest by circumnavigating the law. Oddly enough, there are similarities between this Singaporean case following the events at Activision-Blizzard, just as Riot Games are being forced to allow employees to speak to a governmental investigation into the games industry.