Ubisoft Singapore: Alleged Discrimination and Harassment

Ubisoft Singapore

After a complaint by a California authority against Activision Blizzard due to sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying, the French game developer Ubisoft is now back on fire. Just a week ago, CEO Yves Guillemot and several former and current employees were sued for tolerating and promoting a "culture of abuse". Now numerous former and current employees stand up and talk about their experiences in the Ubisoft branch in Singapore.

Employees are exploited and poorly paid

The Ubisoft studio in Singapore was founded in 2008. With funding from the Singapore government, the studio was designed to support many local developers, honing their talent, and providing them with career opportunities. Former developers agree that this didn't work out as planned. Ubisoft accepted the funding with a kiss, but didn't even pay the employees enough to move out of their parents' house.

Many young developers tried to gain a foothold elsewhere with the experience they had gained. Those who stayed lost their own career opportunities . But in an industry where every job is highly competitive, quitting is not a light-hearted decision. Former developers complain that their superiors have exploited this knowledge.

While Ubisoft as such has received quite a bit of attention in terms of grievances, Ubisoft Singapore has so far been flying under the radar. Kotaku spoke to more than 20 current and former employees about the situation there and encountered at least as serious allegations as elsewhere.

Discrimination against non-French people

Ubisoft is known to have its headquarters in Paris. This goes back to the French origins of the company, which was founded in 1986 by five French brothers. Although the company has long since expanded globally and has over 20,000 employees, its roots are reflected in the management floor and in the discrimination against employees. "If you are not French, you have to take their side and iron out their mistakes," said a currently employed developer.

If you come from another country, it is tough at Ubisoft, especially for Women and people from Southeast Asia. There is a significant pay gap that can range from $ 5,000 to $ 10,000 a year, if not more. Many local developers received salaries just below the local minimum wage. But there was also discrimination in everyday office life. Some meetings started in English, but managers often switched to French when questions or conversations arose in order to exclude non-French people.

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Sexual harassment and lack of consequences

Sexual harassment also occurred in the workplace, according to several employees. A developer was accidentally touched in the elevator. The guilty party did not leave her alone in the coming months and harassed her several times at her place. The working atmosphere was particularly bad under the leadership of Hugues Ricour, former Managing Director at Ubisoft Singapore.

Complaints about discrimination as well as allegations of sexual harassment are from Human Resources, the department explicitly responsible for such incidents , swept under the rug, or ignored. There were consequences for the perpetrators either months later or not at all. Ricour, who is said to have liked putting his employees down, was not fired after endless back and forth and an official investigation, but was transferred to headquarters in Paris. Ubisoft justified this with the fact that everyone in the company "deserved a second chance".

None of the allegations within Ubisoft seem to be really new. A former developer said, "Ubisoft Singapore has always been known as one of the worst studios [internally] when it comes to work culture. People [from other studios] came over and said what the hell is wrong here?" One can only hope that the multitude of grievances that are being brought to light at the moment will soon ensure that things are finally changing in the industry.

So far, things are not looking good in this regard. Ubisoft's promises to change the toxic corporate culture have not been implemented, according to a spokesman for Solidaires Informatique. Also in Ubisoft Canada nothing changed after the allegations in 2020, reports Le Télégramme via Gameindustry.biz.

Source: Kotaku