Developers, fans, and anyone involved in the gaming industry may have noticed the alleged abuse at Activision Blizzard, and the resulting lawsuit. This has made widespread ripples through the industry, including over at Ubisoft, another big-name developer.
Two days ago, Ubisoft employees came together to sign a letter not only standing in solidarity with the Activision Blizzard employees that were allegedly abused, but also to point out its own less-than-stellar handling of harassment. This open letter called for not only change at Activision and Ubisoft going forward, but for the industry as a whole to look at the issues that are ingrained in the very structures of the whole business.
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Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot released a letter in response to the Ubisoft employees, and the letter in its entirety has ended up on Twitter. In this letter, Guillemot stated that Ubisoft is taking the issues raised "seriously" and that the company wants to commit to "creating real and lasting change at Ubisoft." The statement continued by laying out all of the changes that have already been made at the company, such as revamping HR processes and implementing an anonymous way to report problems at the company.
While the letter did a deep dive into the changes that Ubisoft has already made, the complaints of the original Ubisoft letter still hold water. No matter how good of a structure there is in place to report problems, if management does not respond accordingly and implement the changes, the industry as a whole will continue on in the direction that it is currently headed. Guillemot's letter also didn't include any information on making improvements or changes, unlike Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick's recently letter outline changes.
The letter did mention a "Values Project," currently slated for Q3 of 2021 that will deliver a roadmap to employees to outline new developments, changes, and HR updates. This was followed by a call for employees to reach out to Guillemot directly with concerns or issues.
In order to enact real change, the alleged victims of these harassment charges need to be supported by the gaming community instead of relying on the companies to change on its own. Hopefully, something more will come of the lawsuit, letters, and public outcry to help turn the gaming industry around and begin to heal the problems that have plagued it for so long when it comes to harassment and gender-inequality.
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