A Better Ubisoft, a group of Ubisoft employees campaigning for improved working conditions at the publisher, has launched a petition seeking public support for reform following what it sees as an inadequate response to its demands from senior management.
Last summer saw a wave of Ubisoft employees calling out toxic work conditions within the company – including allegations of serious sexual misconduct aimed at members of senior management – after which Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot pledged to “do everything in [his] power to ensure that everyone… feels welcomed, respected, and safe”.
However, despite those assurances, over 1,000 current and former Ubisoft employees signed an open letter in July slamming Ubisoft leadership’s “empty promises” in tackling a company culture allegedly rife with “systemic discrimination, harassment and bullying”.
At the time, A Better Ubisoft reiterated its key demands for improving working conditions:
- Stop promoting, and moving known offenders from studio to studio, team to team with no repercussions. This cycle needs to end.
- We want a collective seat at the table, to have a meaningful say in how Ubisoft as a company moves forward from here.
- Cross-industry collaboration, to agree to a set of ground rules and processes that all studios should can use to handle these offences in the future.
- This collaboration must heavily involve employees in non-management positions and union representatives.
Last week, A Better Ubisoft issued a fresh statement, writing, “Only yesterday Activision Blizzard committed to increase their number of women and non-binary workers by 50%…to invest $250 million ‘to accelerate opportunities for diverse tales’ and to release annual salary transparency reports, meeting some of the ABK Workers Alliance demands. In just 3 months it seems that they have listened to the concerns of employees and acted on them. While our demands are not identical, many overlap and could be addressed through similar actions just as swiftly.”