Ubisoft's Former Top Executives to Go On Trial For Workplace Abuse & Harassment

Regrettably, in this day and age, it's not uncommon for big-name companies – gaming or otherwise – to preach water while drinking wine, often violating the very rules they impose on their customers. Ubisoft, a studio that proudly upholds "high ethical standards" in its Code of Conduct and prohibits objectionable behavior in its EULA, has now found itself in this "do as I say, not as I do" situation, as its former top executives are about to stand trial for nearly a decade of alleged workplace abuse and harassment.

Originally scheduled for this week, from March 10 to March 14, the trial has been postponed to early June at the request of both the civil parties' and defense lawyers, due to key pieces of evidence arriving just days before the trial was due to begin. This includes several pieces of information requested by Maude Beckers, the plaintiffs' lawyer, from Ubisoft back in February 2024 – information that was only provided four days before the trial date.

Standing trial are three former Ubisoft executives, all of whom either resigned or were fired from the company in 2020, following an internal investigation prompted by anonymous social media testimonies accusing the company of fostering a toxic work culture and allowing predatory behavior.

The executives in question are ex-Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët, VP of Editorial and Creative Services Thomas François, and Game Director Guillaume Patrux. All three had been with the studio for over a decade, with Hascoët, who joined Ubisoft in 1988, once considered the company's second-in-command.

The trio faces allegations of a decade-long pattern of near-daily public humiliation, hazing, abuse, and sexual harassment.

As reported by AFP (via France24), François is accused of the most severe misconduct among the three. Allegations against him include attempting to pressure a newly hired employee into performing a handstand in an open office while wearing a skirt, tying the same woman to a chair and sending her to another floor in an elevator, forcibly trying to kiss a young employee during a Christmas party while she was restrained by colleagues, openly watching pornographic films in the office, making numerous attempts to kiss employees, and using derogatory slurs toward staff members.

Hascoët, meanwhile, is being accused of posing intrusive questions of a sexual nature, as well as racist comments and behavior – with the report citing an example of him allegedly asking a Muslim employee if she agreed with the ideas of ISIS and changing her computer desktop background to images of bacon sandwiches – while the third defendant, Patrux, is accused of psychological harassment. All three have pleaded non-guilty.

The new trial is scheduled for June 2, 2025. After an initial hearing where the proceedings were postponed, Becker spoke to media, renewing her demand for Ubisoft, along with its top managers and HR executives, to be called to testify at the trial.