Accusations of harassment and assault have been leveled at several prominent members of the video game industry in the past few days. Many of which centered around Ubisoft employees. After being suspended during investigations into misconduct allegations Ubisoft’s editorial vice president Maxime Beland resigned from the company. After the allegations surfaced on social media Beland was previously suspended from work.
The fighting game community has been shaken by serious allegations in the past few years. Several competitive Super Smash Bros. has a history of sexual misconduct by Evo CEO Joey Cuellar. Which eventually came to light. It led to the suspension of Cuellar from the company and also led to the cancellation of Evo Online. Both Tommy Francois and Beland on Ubisoft’s editorial team were placed on suspension this week while allegations against them were being investigated.
After briefly moving to Epic Games Beland had returned to Ubisoft in early 2020. He served as a creative director at Ubisoft Toronto. His projects included Splinter Cell Blacklist and Splinter Cell Conviction as well as support work on the Far Cry series. The company announced that Beland has resigned, effective immediately.
Ubisoft says it will continue to investigate the allegations against him, which include physical assault and multiple accusations of sexually harassing a Ubisoft employee at a party. A third employee in Ubisoft’s Toronto studio has been fired for behaviors that are unexpected of Ubisoft employees. The developer confirmed that additional investigations are underway.
CEO Yves Guillemot announced the launch of several initiatives to collect anonymous employee feedback. Guillemot also revised the company’s policies to fix problems with the workplace. It was previously alleged that many of the allegations against Ubisoft employees were ignored and known to the company.
The publisher/developer said that they are truly sorry. They also said that they are dedicated to creating and safe and inclusive environment for their players, communities, and teams. They have fallen short of this in the past year and they must do better. The company would be undergoing a structural shift to change its company culture announced by Guillemot. They have already appointed a new head of workplace culture along with the use of an external consulting firm to review its procedures.
