A French court has been told how three former Ubisoft executives frequently abused their power to sexually harass and bully employees.
As reported by The Guardian, those accusations have been levelled at former Ubisoft vice president of editorial and creative services Tommy François; former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët; and former game director Guillaume Patrux.
All three are standing trial in France after being accused of workplace misconduct and rampant harassment by multiple women.
During four days of hearings, women who previously worked at Ubisoft described how they were subjected to constant comments about sex and their bodies, made to endure sexist and homophobic jokes, and touched physically without consent.
Some women discussed specific instances of abuse and told the court how they were tied to a chair, forced to do handstands, and made to listen to pornography being played in an open-plan office.
“He was my superior and I was afraid of him. He made me do handstands. I did it to get it over with and get rid of him,” one woman told the court, speaking about her experiences with Francois.
The former Ubisoft exec was also accused of kissing a woman employee “by force” during a video game event in the United States. It’s claimed he later bragged about the incident to another senior figure, and on another occasion summoned her to his office where he showed her lewd pictures.
“Once he drew a penis on my arm when I was in a video call with top management,” she added, claiming his behavior made her feel “stupefied, humiliated and professionally discredited.”
François, Hascoët, and Patrux have denied all charges.
Addressing the above allegations specifically, François said Ubisoft had a “culture of joking around” but that he “never tried to harm anyone.”
State prosecutor Antoine Haushalter, however, said the case revealed “overwhelming” evidence of harassment within Ubisoft and claimed the video game industry has “systemic” issues with sexism and abuse.
Hascoët also faced more detailed allegations and was accused of talking about sex in the workplace and bullying assistants by making them carry out personal tasks. It was also claimed he spoke disparagingly about another senior colleague, who was a woman, and told staff how he would have sex with her in a meeting room to “calm her.”
Allegations of sexual harassment and bullying were also levelled at Patrux, who was accused of punching walls, pretending to hit employees, threatening to carry out an office shooting, and cracking a whip in the face of colleagues.
Hascoët and Patrux denied those allegations, with the former saying “I have never wanted to harass anyone and I don’t think I have.”
A panel of judges is now considering the case and will hand down a verdict at a later date.
The news comes five years after Game Developer reported on endemic abuse and harassment at Ubisoft, with multiple former and current employees claiming senior figured had enabled a culture built on toxicity and deniability to take root and flourish.
