Earlier in the week, we heard that multiple studios in the games industry are taking measures to distance themselves from Chris Avellone, who has been on the receiving end of multiple allegations of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior. Now it would seem that it’s Ubisoft’s turn to reflect on how to deal with emerging stories of a widespread culture of harassment, abuse, bullying, and coverups across several Ubisoft studios.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s Creative Director Ashraf Ismail has already stepped down from his role, in what Ubisoft has described as “a leave of absence” in a statement to Kotaku. He had been accused of infidelity and “conduct that reflects poorly on the Ubisoft brand”, and having him leave his role on a temporary basis should hopefully give Ubisoft time to investigate the situation thoroughly, and once the investigation has concluded they can move forward with a more robust understanding of what happened.
But this is far from the only story coming out of Ubisoft recently. There are allegations of different types of abusive behavior being levied at individuals across different departments, different countries, and different teams.
These stories have prompted a broader response from Ubisoft, where they’ve posted a statement that reads to me like it was worded very carefully, likely with their team of lawyers wanting to avoid opening themselves up to any avoidable legal liability.
The statement reads:
“Concerning recent allegations raised against certain Ubisoft team members: We want to start by apologizing to everyone affected by this – we are truly sorry. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive and safe environment for our teams, players, and communities. It is clear we have fallen short of this in the past. We must do better.
We have started by launching investigations into the allegations with the support of specialized external consultants. Based on the outcomes, we are fully committed to taking any and all appropriate disciplinary action. As these investigations are ongoing, we can’t comment further. We are also auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior.
We will be sharing additional measures that we are putting in place with our teams in the coming days. Our goal is to foster an environment that our employees, partners, and communities can be proud of –one that reflects our values and that is safe for everyone.”
It seems like a good start to addressing these problems, but clearly words alone are not going to result in the much-needed change. The biggest remaining questions in my mind are: Who are the external consultants who will be tackling this investigation? When will we hear about an update on this investigation? What consequences are there going to be for perpetrators of abuse? What consequences are there going to be for the management level staff that participated in covering up abuse? What fundamental structural changes are they going to make to ensure an effective change of culture within their organization on a global level?
It’s going to take some time before we can truly see what action Ubisoft will be taking.
It’s somewhat commendable that they’re taking this first step to address these long-running problems, but it’s certainly a shame that it’s taken this long. Some of the people accused of the most serious inappropriate conduct have since moved on from Ubisoft, but many are still there. Will we hear of people responsible for these sustained injustices be forced to take some accountability? I certainly hope so. We’ll be waiting to see evidence of action to back up this statement. Ubisoft has stated that they need to do better, now they need to deliver on that.