Following a burst of sexual misconduct allegations against various video game industry names, Ubisoft has released an official statement on the topic. The company says that it will work to investigate the cases against its employees and is fully committed to taking whatever disciplinary action needed. This article refers to topics such as sexual harassment and rape, so reader discretion is advised.
The accusations that have come out this week have hit more than a few major companies in the video game industry, including companies like Twitch. One of these companies, Ubisoft, has had three specific employees called out for sexual assault and misconduct. Other current and former Ubisoft employees have also been accused.
The first of the implicated employees, Assassin's Creed creative director Ashraf Ismali, was accused of engaging in extramarital affairs with unwilling employees and fans. He stepped down from his position to "take a leave of absence" this Wednesday with Ubisoft saying it was "deeply concerned" about the accusations. As for the other named employees, product and brand marketing manager Andrien Gbinigie was accused of manipulation, emotional abuse, and rape, while associate PR director Stone Chin has been said to use "his position within Ubisoft's public relations team to prey on multiple women, with many claiming his behavior has been an 'open secret' for some time."
In a statement released yesterday, Ubisoft spoke out about the accusations and what it plans to do about them. "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."
Ubisoft isn't the only company promising to take action against toxicity and sexual misconduct. Following a blackout on Twitch where streamers refused to stream for a day to show their support for the abused and mistreated, Twitch has handed out bans to some of the more drastic cases on their platform, including removing an emote associated with the former streamer BlessRNG. However, there's still the question of how they'll regulate cases of abuse in the future.
Source: Ubisoft