Ubisoft workers demand swifter action from leadership after Activision concedes to employee demands

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick made important concessions yesterday to calls for raised by studio staff within the wake of a lawsuit over allegations of widespread discrimination and sexual misconduct on the firm. His reduced salary is basically performative—his base pay was already halved earlier this yr, however he's nonetheless eligible for thousands and thousands in bonuses—however the different commitments had been welcomed by staff.

“As we speak was an enormous win for ABK Employee's Alliance!” the employees group tweeted. “Compelled arbitration has been eliminated for instances that cope with sexual harassment and discrimination. The corporate introduced they may elevate the variety of girls and non-binary folks it employs by 50%.”

That win for the employees was additionally seen by A Higher Ubisoft, an analogous employees collective working for “actual and everlasting change” at Ubisoft, which has been coping with its personal sexual misconduct scandals since mid-2020. The Ubisoft staff stated they had been “celebrating some nice progress made by @ABetterABK,” and stated they might “proceed to face collectively as we work to #EndAbuseInGaming.” In addition they used Activision's promise of motion to attract consideration to Ubisoft's failure to handle its personal points meaningfully, regardless of having had for much longer to take action.

“16 months since Ubisoft was compelled to take restricted motion following public posts on Twitter, you speak about 'a strategic roadmap of change for HR' that you’re 'on the point of begin rolling out' giving no timeline for supply or any trace of what these modifications shall be,” A Higher Ubisoft tweeted.

“Solely yesterday Activision Blizzard dedicated to extend their variety of girls and non-binary employees by 50% inside 5 years. They’ve promised to speculate $250 million 'to speed up alternatives for numerous expertise' and to launch annual wage transparency stories, assembly a few of the ABK Employees Alliance calls for. In simply three months plainly they’ve listened to the considerations of staff and acted on them. Whereas our calls for should not equivalent, many overlap and might be addressed by way of comparable actions simply as swiftly.”

A number of Ubisoft executives, together with former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët and vp Maxime Beland, resigned from Ubisoft within the preliminary wake of the misconduct allegations, however others had been merely moved round. Ubisoft Singapore managing director Hugues Ricour, as an example, was removed from his position following a management audit sparked by a number of stories of sexual harassment, however as a substitute of being dismissed he was transferred to Ubisoft's head workplace in Paris to function Manufacturing Intelligence Director.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated in July that “important progress” has been made for the reason that misconduct allegations first got here to gentle, however staff dismissed that declare in an open letter, saying that they proceed to attend for “real, fundamental change.” A Higher Ubisoft additionally criticized the appointment of Igor Manceau to the place of chief artistic officer, saying that “the artistic crew at Ubisoft consists of white people who find themselves of uniform cultural backgrounds,” together with Serge Hascoët's former assistant, and Patrick Plourde, who stays vp of editorial “regardless of the a number of misconduct stories filed towards him.”

I've reached out to Ubisoft for touch upon the Higher Ubisoft assertion, and can replace if I obtain a reply.