Three former executives at French video game publisher Ubisoft have received suspended prison sentences for their role in continued workplace psychological and sexual harassment. According to The Guardian, former employees at the brand’s Montreuil office alleged former brand execs Thomas François, Serge Hascoët, and Guillaume Patrux engaged in abusive behaviors from 2012 to 2020.
François, Hascoët, Patrux, and two additional Ubisoft employees were arrested by French police in 2023 after a lengthy investigation.
François, 52, Ubisoft’s former Vice President of Editorial and Creative Services, received a three-year suspended sentence, a €30,000 fine (around $35,000) for sexual harassment, psychological harassment, and “an attempted sexual assault.” According to The Guardian, one former staff member told the court that François “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.”
François departed Ubisoft in August 2020 following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Former Ubisoft COO Serge Hascoët, 59, was found guilty of psychological harassment and “complicity in sexual harassment.” He received an 18-month suspended sentence and €45,000 fine (around $52,000). Hascoët formerly oversaw Ubisoft’s editorial team before resigning in July 2020 following numerous accusations of misconduct.
In court, Hascoët said he wasn’t personally aware of any misconduct. “I have never wanted to harass anyone and I don’t think I have,” he said.
Former Ubisoft game designer Guillaume Patrux, 41, was found guilty of psychological harassment, receiving a 12-month suspended sentence and €10,000 fine (just over $11,000). The Guardian reports Patrux “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.”
Globally known game publisher Ubisoft, first established in the late 1980s, is behind well-known game franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, and Far Cry, among others.
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A lifelong gamer raised on classic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Croc, Stephanie brings her expertise of gaming and pop culture to deliver unique, refreshing views on the world of video games, complete with references to absurd and obscure media.
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