Ubisoft developers have told a French court that former execs Serge Hascoet, Tommy Francois, and Guillaume Patrux alleg…
Wtf, the amount of bullshit that happened there.
female former staff members variously described being tied to a chair, forced to do handstands, subjected to constant comments about sex and their bodies, having to endure sexist and homophobic jokes, drawings of penises being stuck to computers, a manager who farted in workers’ faces or scribbled on women with marker pens, gave unsolicited shoulder massages, played pornographic films in an open-plan office, and another executive who cracked a whip near people’s heads,
He is also accused of kissing a member of staff on the lips without consent at a Christmas party as his colleagues “restrained her by the arms and back,” while a different witness said that during a US trip, he “grabbed [her] by the hair and kissed [her] by force.” No one present reacted or stopped him,
A woman who worked for François alleged the former VP made her do handstand wearing a skirt. “He was my superior and I was afraid of him," she said. "He made me do handstands. I did it to get it over with and get rid of him
Patrux, also accused of sexual harassment and bullying, allegedly punched walls, mimed punching staff, “played with a cigarette lighter near workers’ faces, setting alight a man’s beard,” and “threatened to carry out an office shooting.” He also reportedly cracked a whip in the faces of his colleagues.
What. The. Fuck. I had heard about shit at Ubisoft, but had no idea it went this far…
Jesus christ i did not expect to see that headline, c’mon ubisoft, have some respect, you aren’t blizzard just yet
Sounds like they went considerably beyond Blizzard, at least in treatment of workers.
I mean Blizard was sued for harassing an employee so badly they committed suicide, so I’m not sure Ubisoft is going beyond what blizzard did. Both companies are trash
Why the fuck are gaming companies like this? If it just that they’re smaller companies with very relaxed atmospheres? I have worked at a few Fortune 500 companies and can’t imagine anything even remotely resembling any of this shit going down without people getting their ass handed to them by HR.
A part of the answer is that a lot of gaming companies started out as a bunch of dudes in a basement who put a game together. Fast forward a few years and the same dudes are suddenly heads of big multi-million companies with dozens of employees, while they never had to learn anything about management. It’s pretty disillusioning how many upper managers in the gaming industry are just “vibing” their way through it all.