It seems like Ubisoft is currently in the news again this week but for the wrong the reasons. It has recently been revealed that the French police has recently arrested five former Ubisoft employees for allegations surrounding sexual allegations and sexual harassment dating back in 2020. Apparently, two former Chief Executives of Ubisoft were detained on October 4th and three other ex-employees were arrested on the day prior to that. The sexual misconduct accusations came from two former female employees and a formal complaint was filed by the French labor union Solidaires Informatique back in 2021. The Ubisoft executives arrested for sexual misconduct includes ex Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoet and Ex VP of Editorial and Creative Services Tommy Francois. The three other ex Ubisoft employees who have been arrested have not been named but we will most likely learn more details about them as time progresses.

While Hascoet had stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer Francois was placed on disciplinary leave before he was reportedly terminated around August 2020. Ubisoft’s issues concerning a toxic work environment is one of the main things that has kept the video game developer in news aside from anticipated release of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Assassin’s Creed Mirage literally just came out on October 5th and it seems like its release has been overshadowed by the controversy regarding some Ubisoft’s former executives. This also comes a few months after Ubisoft made its second around of layoffs back in Spring 2023 leading to approximately 60 people losing their jobs without notice. It does not seem that bad publicity that Ubisoft has been getting lately might not end anytime soon and will likely carry over in 2024.