Jonathan Dumont, the creative director of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, is being accused of abusive management and misconduct within Ubisoft's Canadian studio, Ubisoft Quebec.
Several different employees — both former and current — from Ubisoft Quebec have come forward anonymously and explained the studio's misconduct, citing Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Creative Director Jonathan Dumont as the main source of toxicity within the studio. According to the sources, Dumont is an abusive and controlling figure who, in many ways, sums up many of the issues that the game publisher currently faces as a whole.
Many of the sources explain how the studio is overall very "hostile" and is "plagued by toxic and abusive people." The sources claim that Dumont often uses physical intimidation on employees by slamming doors, throwing objects, or even punching walls. He has verbally abused staff members, and even gone as far as to reduce some to tears by using homophobic slurs and other offensive terms. He also allegedly targets women, by telling them when to smile or to dress a particular way.
One source explains the extent of Dumont's hostility, stating: "He is very narcissistic and overall a major bully. [He] pushes people to the edge of their mental health regularly, and tries to justify his behavior by saying 'this is how you get things done.' [He makes] various misogynistic and homophobic comments, and when he's called out on them will come out with defenses like 'my mother left my father when she realized she was a lesbian, so I know what I am talking about.'" Dumont's behavior was apparently an open secret, with Ubisoft management never offering a real solution to his abuse beyond forcing him to apologize and not interact with the staff member directly.
This toxic work environment is not unique to Ubisoft Quebec, as staff members at Ubisoft Singapore have reported similar allegations: harassment, abuse, sexism, racial insensitivity, and more are allegedly a regular occurrence, many of the perpetrators being people in power. Ubisoft now faces a lawsuit in response to the workplace abuse allegations, with many other employees reportedly exhibiting toxic misconduct.
Ubisoft suspended several executives back in June in response to allegations, but it seems that that has done little to combat the overall toxic environment without the gaming company as a whole, with more and more allegations being reported.
It's unknown whether any of these allegations will have any sort of effect on the development of Ubisoft's upcoming titles, with Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Creative Director Ashraf Ismail recently getting fired in response to similar allegations. Valhalla is slated to launch this holiday season for all major consoles, and looks to be one of the biggest entries in the Assassin's Creed franchise yet. Whether any of this bad publicity will have any sort of impact on the title's sales also remains to be seen.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla launches November 17 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.
Source: Gamasutra