That headline might read like “water is wet” news, but the actual statements made are part of Ubisoft’s own Universal Registration Document, a mandatory document for public companies that identifies risks as well as results to the firm they come from.
This particular document was published in June, with Ubisoft affirming in the “risks and internal control” section that the company’s massive and wide-reaching sexual harassment scandal has resulted in “key talents” being lost, damaged the company’s “reputation and image” that could lead to a lack of games production and a loss in revenue, and that the key positions lost couldn’t be filled in immediately, which in turn caused “delays in decision-making, postponement of expenses or the teams concerned losing their bearings.” The scandal has also been “an obstacle to [the company’s] attractiveness and to retention of talent.”
The document states that Ubisoft is taking a zero tolerance policy on harassment but also states “the Group cannot provide an absolute guarantee that this type of risk will be controlled.” Incidentally, readers will recall that this past spring, the French media published analysis that showed very little had changed internally for workers and few changes have been actually made across the corporation. One example of this failure to learn is the announcement of a live service for the Assassin’s Creed series, which will have Jonathan Dumont, one of those accused of being abusive while in a leadership position, earn himself a creative director role.
