Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Just Dance: there will certainly be one of these video games that will resonate in your memory. If gaming culture is not your cup of tea, then it’s a safe bet that you know “Les Rabins Crétins”. What do they have in common? They were all created by Ubisoft, one of the largest video game companies in the world, a symbol of French success in this ultra-competitive industry.
And if it is important to underline the aura, and the influence of this publisher in the gaming world, it is because it is going through an unprecedented, serious crisis, engendered by a recent wave of #metoo from gaming. Dozens of testimonies of sexual harassment, both on Twitter and in the pages of Liberation, reveal to what extent a sexist and violently macho culture is present within certain poles of the company, in an atmosphere of “boy’s club”, under the guise of human resources wanting to protect the creative “talents” of the company, too precious to be lost.
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The video game was built around a violent masculinity
This summer of 2020, the gaming world is facing its second wave of #metoo in less than a year (the first having taken place in October 2019). A chain of testimonies, reporting sexual harassment, sexist and racist comments, predatory behavior and even rape in what could be called the “gamosphere”. All its components are affected: large studios, independent studios, streaming platforms, online multiplayer games (such as League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Overwatch). For a simple player, being female is sometimes enough to be insulted, devalued during online games.
►►► “Go make you eat bitch”: The hell of gamers and video game streamers
The diversity of testimonies perfectly illustrates the major problem plaguing the industry: since the advent of living room consoles, video games have mainly been built on a virile, violent representation of masculinity, in a domination of women, presented as vulnerable, weak, hypersexualized and unfortunately excessively objectified.
To this must be added specific marketing which, from the 1980s, specifically targeted (white) boys to sell video games, and we are left with a glaring lack of diversity, both on the side of people working in studios as in the construction of stories, imaginations, universes of developed games.
This masculinist heritage (white, heterosexual) is still very present, both in the video games themselves, but also on the side of the creators of these works, fueled in their youth to gamer by these sexist stereotypes (but also racist, homophobic ) recurring. Clichés which of course also exist in cinema, literature, music, etc., but which are overrepresented in video games.
A series of resources on this subject is listed at the end of this article.
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Getting out of the cliché of the vulnerable (sexual) object woman
For the past ten years or so, and not only in gaming, mentalities have changed and evolved, thanks to the voices of minorities that have long been overlooked. We can clearly see an evolution in the video game titles that are offered, and not only in the independent scene, less chained by marketing considerations: there are more and more female protagonists with which the players can finally identify. We can cite some of the last AAA (the equivalent of the cinematographic blockbuster) like “Horizon Zero Dawn”, “Uncharted Lost Legacy”, or “The Last of Us Part II” which came to shake up stereotypes, as well as some nuggets of studios more modest, like “A Plague Tale: Innocence”, “Life is Strange”, “Céleste”, “Oxenfree” or “GRIS”. (This list is incredibly non-exhaustive).
But if virtual women are more and more numerous, in real life, it is slower to set up. The official presentation conference of the PS5 (whose release is scheduled for the end of the year) is a perfect illustration. In this video, around twenty titles are presented, alternating with a few words from the developers. And it is clear that Playstation has unveiled a beautiful diversity of games, with almost half of them, a woman as protagonist or playable character. But on the developer side, this balance is completely broken: we count the intervention of 14 men for… a woman, Angie Smets from the Guerilla studio. Alternating with one of his colleagues.
According to the 2020 video game barometer in France, diversity is far from being achieved in development studios, which only have 14% women, while they represent more than 25% of students. In Belgium, where the industry is still underdeveloped, it is estimated that this figure is barely 7%.
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Ubisoft, a professional achievement
And it is in this context that this crisis is grafted at Ubisoft. It is the largest French video game publisher, which can boast of competing with its American and Japanese competitors, such as Blizzard, Nintendo, Sony or Electronic Arts. Since the early 2000s, Ubisoft has created games that have marked their generation, like Rayman, created an incredible historical immersion with Assassin’s Creed, offered one of the best heroines of video games with Beyond Good and Evil. Their footprint on gaming is impressive, as is their turnover, of $ 1.8 billion in 2018. For many video game enthusiasts who want to make it their job, working at Ubisoft represents an accomplishment of cut.
So when dozens of testimonies point the finger at employees, often in high places, in the various studios that make up the company (there are around forty scattered all over the globe), we understand that we are finally starting to raise the curtain on a bleak reality of the gaming world.
Our colleagues from Liberation, Erwan Cario and Marius Chapuis, gathered in a large survey more than twenty testimonies, mainly concerning the editorial team of the Ubisoft Monde studio, located in Paris.
Too powerful editorial team
Ubisoft Monde, as its name suggests, is the headquarters of the company, where the most important decisions are made. And the editorial team, or Editorial Creative Service in the jargon of the company, is the one who will simply decide which games will be developed, which will be their guidelines, artistic directions, etc. Ubisoft’s CEO (and founder), Yves Guillemot, sums up the importance of their role in one sentence: they are the “creators of value”. And from what Libé’s investigation reveals, these “creators of value” were protected at the expense of the victims of their harassment.
The testimonies collected denounce a particular man, Tommy François, vice-president of the editorial team, described as “predator at the head of a service transformed into a boy’s club”, “Manipulator toxic to women, and sometimes to men, who would have benefited from total impunity”. And some words are very appealing: Tommy François would have tried to forcefully kiss one of his employees, while other members of the team forcibly detained her. She manages to flee, and when she goes to HR to talk about it, she is explained that she misinterpreted her actions. Other employees, and ex-employees, speak of repeated inappropriate remarks, speaking of masturbation, fellatio, as well as prolonged sexual looks.
“There was a kind of induced complicity with Tommy François on the part of HR”, says a man who claims to have been morally harassed by the vice-president in Libé. “One has the impression of dealing with an untouchable system, protected by top management.” This is confirmed by another testimony from the investigation. “When cases of sexual or moral harassment arise, there is an omerta. We sacrifice the little ones. We protect the big jobs, even if it means moving the most toxic cases. HR iron the babies and take advantage of the fact that Ubisoft is made up of different companies. “
Tommy François, through his lawyer, formally denied all the accusations “recklessly” relayed in the press, “encouraging” to seize the judicial authorities. The vice-president has been placed on protective leave ” said the CEO, pending the results of internal investigations.
A CEO who recognizes his wrongs
But if this man is particularly in the spotlight, it does not seem to be an isolated case. Other creative directors have been targeted, including that of the next Assassin’s Creed, Ashral Ismail, who resigned following revelations of infidelity on Twitter. Maxime Beland, editorial vice-president in Toronto, a name that has come up in several testimonies, has resigned “with immediate effect”. On Twitter, several testimonies tell of a particularly toxic atmosphere for women in Ubisoft Sofia, in Bulgaria.
Ubisoft’s CEO did not remain silent in the face of this challenging situation, and in an open letter, promised immediate changes. He called the lived situations unacceptable, and recognized that much remained to be done to improve their way of working. ” I decided to review the composition of our editorial department, transform our HR processes, and make all of our managers more responsible on these subjects. “ he specifies.
Reactions to these promises are mixed, several Libé witnesses appear to be rather skeptical, one of them speaking of a simple com ‘plan, even if they for the most part welcome the fact that the CEO recognizes his wrongs.
And to conclude with this reflection from a former editorial service employee: “I’m sorry, I can’t believe that Yves was not aware of these acts – or that he chose to look elsewhere while I, other women and simply each member of his team were sacrificed on the altar of creativity. “
This wave of testimony obviously does not affect that Ubisoft, other large studios, as well as known streamers in the industry, are also cited.
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