Three Ubisoft chiefs found guilty of enabling culture of sexual harassment

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Three former executives at the video game company Ubisoft have been given suspended prison sentences for enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment in the workplace at the end of the first big trial to stem from the #MeToo movement in the gaming industry.

The court in Bobigny, north of Paris, had heard how the former executives used their position to bully or sexually harass staff, leaving women terrified and feeling like pieces of meat.

Former staff had said that between 2012 and 2020, the company's offices in Montreuil, east of Paris, were run with a toxic culture of bullying and sexism that one worker likened to a "boys' club above the law".

Serge Hascoët, former creative director of Ubisoft, leaving the courtroom in Paris on 2 June.

The state prosecutor, Antoine Haushalter, had told the court the world of video games and its subculture had an element of "systemic" sexism and potential abuse and called the trial a "turning point" for the gaming world.

Thomas François, 52, a former Ubisoft editorial vice-president, was found guilty of sexual harassment, psychological harassment and an attempted sexual assault. He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence and fined €30,000 (£26,000).

The court heard how he once tied a female member of staff to a chair with tape, pushed the chair into a lift and pressed a button at random. He was also accused of forcing one woman wearing a skirt to do handstands.

She told the court: "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."

At a 2015 office Christmas party with a Back to the Future theme, François allegedly told a member of staff that he liked her 1950s dress. He then allegedly stepped towards her to kiss her on the mouth as his colleagues restrained her by the arms and back. She shouted and broke free.

François had told the court there was a "culture of joking around". He said: "I never tried to harm anyone."

Serge Hascoët, 59, Ubisoft's former chief creative officer and second-in-command, was found guilty of psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment.

He was acquitted of sexual harassment and complicity in psychological harassment. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of €45,000.

The court heard he once handed a young female member of staff a tissue in which he had blown his nose, saying: "You can resell it, it's worth gold at Ubisoft." The court heard that Hascoët bullied assistants by making them carry out personal tasks for him such as going to his home to wait for parcel deliveries.

Hascoët had told the court he was unaware of any harassment, saying: "I have never wanted to harass anyone and I don't think I have."

Hascoët's lawyer, Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier, said his client was considering an appeal.

The former Ubisoft game director, Guillaume Patrux, 41, was found guilty of psychological harassment and given a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of €10,000.

The court heard he had punched walls, mimed hitting staff, cracked a whip near colleagues' faces, threatened to carry out an office shooting and played with a cigarette lighter near workers' faces, setting alight a man's beard. He had denied the charges.
 
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Shocked Patrick Stewart GIF
 
Not that I'll ever feel particularly invested on defending Ubisoft execs about... anything, really, but let's be real for a second here.
" A culture of sexual harassment" = most likely a fucking nothing burger.
 
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Not that I'll ever feel particularly invested on defending Ubisoft execs about... anything, really, but let's be real for a second here.
" A culture of sexual harassment" = most likely a fucking nothing burger.
Toxic masculinity ain't nothing, bub.
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"Three former executives at the video game company Ubisoft have been given suspended prison sentences for enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment in the workplace at the end of the first big trial to stem from the #MeToo movement in the gaming industry."
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This is bad news for us because it will lead to more game censorship in order to improve their "image." All future Ubisoft women characters will be uglified and fully clothed in order to prove that they aren't creeps. You thought SW outlaws was bad, just wait.
 
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This is bad news for us because it will lead to more game censorship in order to improve their "image." All future Ubisoft women characters will be uglified and fully clothed in order to prove that they aren't creeps. You thought SW outlaws was bad, just wait.
This is a thread about actual criminal behavior and deserved punishment. Fight the culture wars elsewhere, please?
 
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It's crazy that all these uber progressive, DEI folks who like to preach to us about inclusivity and politics always end up being the same people engaged in this kind of gross behavior.


"Three former executives at the video game company Ubisoft have been given suspended prison sentences for enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment in the workplace at the end of the first big trial to stem from the #MeToo movement in the gaming industry."
Suspicious Kenan Thompson GIF
Thomas François, 52, a former Ubisoft editorial vice-president, was found guilty of sexual harassment, psychological harassment and an attempted sexual assault. He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence and fined €30,000 (£26,000).

Serge Hascoët, 59, Ubisoft's former chief creative officer and second-in-command, was found guilty of psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment. He was acquitted of sexual harassment and complicity in psychological harassment. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of €45,000.

The former Ubisoft game director, Guillaume Patrux, 41, was found guilty of psychological harassment and given a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of €10,000.

Suspicious Kenan Thompson GIF


Yeah.... I'm not sure how I feel about prison sentences for "psychological harassment".
 
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have been given suspended prison sentences

I always find it curious how a judge can see a crime, with real life consequences for many victims, and think it's not worth the bother of actually give out a proper punishment.
This judge might as well have given a slap on the wrist and wagged his finger, for what it's worth.
 
The court heard how he once tied a female member of staff to a chair with tape, pushed the chair into a lift and pressed a button at random. He was also accused of forcing one woman wearing a skirt to do handstands.

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Fucking mad man
 
The problem is not these corporate lowlifes, the problem is so many people grow up obedient, non-thinking, spineless and scared miserable shadows of themselves. What's so difficult in punching the sucker in the face, take a piss on your work desk and just leave? I swear so many people need to adapt sociopathic behavioural patterns, would do wonders.
 
The court heard he once handed a young female member of staff a tissue in which he had blown his nose, saying: "You can resell it, it's worth gold at Ubisoft." The court heard that Hascoët bullied assistants by making them carry out personal tasks for him such as going to his home to wait for parcel deliveries.

I hope he tries to pull this move off in jail and see how that goes.
 
As always, need both sides and more details for most of these stories. No way I'm believing an accuser straight up and demonizing the "bad person" after watching the last half decade plus play out.
 
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The only one that I find puzzling is this one:

Serge Hascoët, 59, Ubisoft's former chief creative officer and second-in-command, was found guilty of psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment.

He was acquitted of sexual harassment and complicity in psychological harassment. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of €45,000.

The court heard he once handed a young female member of staff a tissue in which he had blown his nose, saying: "You can resell it, it's worth gold at Ubisoft." The court heard that Hascoët bullied assistants by making them carry out personal tasks for him such as going to his home to wait for parcel deliveries.

If the worst he did was give someone a used Kleenex and pay his assistants to assist him, then I don't understand this at all. If he did worse stuff then this, then whomever wrote this article seriously buried the lede. I don't see how making an assistant wait for parcel deliveries is criminal behavior. And the Kleenex one is gross, but I also don't see how that is criminal behavior.

EDIT: I found another source that says this:

For his part, former chief creative officer Serge Hascoet, 60, was given an 18-month suspended sentence for psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment.

Hascoet told the court he was unaware of the harassment happening outside of his glass office.

But he also instructed his female assistants to perform personal tasks for him not linked to their qualifications, such as picking up his daughter from school or crossing Paris to buy him peanuts.

"It's what we see in films," said Hascoet during the trial to justify the behavior.

"Films are not reality," the presiding judge replied.

I don't understand the conviction for this guy. None of this is criminal behavior.

As always, need both sides and more details for most of these stories. No way I'm believing an accuser straight up and demonizing the "bad person" after watching the last half decade plus play out.

This isn't merely an accusation. They were found guilty in court.
 
The only one that I find puzzling is this one:



If the worst he did was give someone a used Kleenex and pay his assistants to assist him, then I don't understand this at all. If he did worse stuff then this, then whomever wrote this article seriously buried the lede. I don't see how making an assistant wait for parcel deliveries is criminal behavior. And the Kleenex one is gross, but I also don't see how that is criminal behavior.

EDIT: I found another source that says this:



I don't understand the conviction for this guy. None of this is criminal behavior.
I don't know the specifics, but I believe it's illegal in certain countries in the EU to require subordinates to perform personal chores, especially outside work hours. It falls under "abuse of power". So technically, yeah, it might be criminal behavior. I don't think the US has any such laws though…
 
"The court heard how he once tied a female member of staff to a chair with tape, pushed the chair into a lift and pressed a button at random"

'Welcome to jacques-ass'

Edit: was a bit shit
 
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This is bad news for us because it will lead to more game censorship in order to improve their "image." All future Ubisoft women characters will be uglified and fully clothed in order to prove that they aren't creeps. You thought SW outlaws was bad, just wait.
Even the Konami from the 2K10's, with all its mess and drama, had a better reputation at that moment than Ubisoft.

Their games have sucked for the past 15 years. It's just the same formula with a new coat of paint every time. And please, stop whining like a baby, this company is as toxic as it gets. You really think a studio like that is suddenly going to turn progressive?

But hey, you'll still get your next Assassin's Creed with barely any changes, just in a slightly different location for 100 bucks. Just like Mario Kart World. Count me out.

Ubisoft is dead and that's a good thing! What really shocks me is that Macron, who has always jumped to defend rapists like Depardieu and french politics, hasn't rushed in yet to protect the guilty guys this time. What's keeping him? Did he buy himself some dignity or something?

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I always find it curious how a judge can see a crime, with real life consequences for many victims, and think it's not worth the bother of actually give out a proper punishment.
This judge might as well have given a slap on the wrist and wagged his finger, for what it's worth.
It is France
 
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