Ubisoft editorial vice president Maxime Beland has resigned from the company following allegations of assault and sexual harassment. Beland was previously suspended from work after the allegations surfaced on social media.
Accusations of assault and harassment have been leveled at several prominent members of the video game industry in the past few, many of which centered around employees of Ubisoft. In addition, the CEO of Twitch was called out for ignoring abuse accusations against streamers. In the past few years, the fighting game community has been shaken by serious allegations as well. Several competitive Super Smash Bros. players are accused of sexually abusing minors in the community and a history of sexual misconduct by Evo CEO Joey Cuellar came to light, which eventually led to the cancellation of Evo Online and Cuellar’s suspension from the company.
Both Beland and Tommy Francois, another executive on Ubisoft’s editorial team, were placed on suspension this week while allegations against them were being investigated. In an email sent to Screen Rant by Ubisoft, the company confirmed that Francois has been “placed on disciplinary leave” and announced that Beland has resigned, effective immediately. Ubisoft says it will continue to investigate the allegations against him, which include multiple accusations of sexual harassment and physically assaulting a Ubisoft employee at a party. A third, unnamed employee in Ubisoft’s Toronto studio has been fired for “engaging in behaviors that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees,” and the developer confirms that there are additional investigations underway.
The email was sent as a followup to an internal letter circulated through Ubisoft by CEO Yves Guillemot yesterday. In the letter, he announced the appointment of a head of workplace culture and the launch of several initiatives to collect anonymous feedback from employees. Guillemot also pledged to turn over investigations to independent third parties and revise the company’s policies to fix problems with the workplace. It was previously alleged that many of the allegations raised against Ubisoft employees were known to the company and ignored.
As Guillemot’s previous communications on the matter make clear, there is no quick fix for the problems plaguing the industry. Too often, companies shield the employees who are accused of misconduct rather than protecting those who were harmed by it. The steps taken by Ubisoft seem to indicate that the developer is taking the allegations seriously, but difficult, sustained work will be needed to address the epidemic of abuse in the industry.
Source: Ubisoft
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