According to the latest report from Bloomberg, Ubisoft has decided to place, Maxime Béland and Tommy François on administrative leave due to current allegations of misconduct against women in which, they along several other executives of the company have been accused.
Bloomberg reports that “according to people familiar with the situation” Maxime Béland and Tommy François, are the two high-ranking employees under heavy scrutiny. Each is facing “at least three claims of misconduct among a flurry of Twitter post from named an anonymous accusers”. However, other executives at Ubisoft has also been accused of having a indecent conduct toward employees.
Last week, Ubisoft announced the investigations of the allegations with “external consultants”
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.
We are also auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior.
Ubisoft has asked Maxime Beland and Tommy François to not make any public statement, they are expected to resume their duties when the investigations are finished and they are proven innocent. As the moment of writing, the situation is bad for the company that has, over 16,000 employers worldwide.
Under the circumstances, Ubisoft’s Human Resources Chief to released a message for employees in which states that Ubisoft is “deeply concerned by the accusations”, in the letter, the company ask employees to share their experience in regards the behavior of executives and supervisors.
The implications about the allegations of former Ubisoft’s workers are still uncertain, a massive lawsuit will likely to follow next, and criminal prosecution can also take place. An Ubisoft spokesperson told GamesIndustry that the company will take “any allegations of abuse or harassment very seriously”… Is suggested that Ubisoft will determine what will be their next move according to the allegations being made.
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Shadow of the Erdtree will launch on June 21
This was originally a requirement when the game first launched.