Ubisoft, once considered a titan in the gaming industry (long ago, I know... but stay with me here), is now facing quite the reckoning with a scandal that has allegedly festered for years behind the scenes. On March 10-14, 2025, three former senior executives—Serge Hascoët, Thomas "Tommy" François, and Guillaume Patrux—will all come together and stand trial in the Bobigny criminal court, accused of systemic sexual and moral harassment that permeated throughout the French gaming giant. The irony of how a moral grandstanding company like Ubisoft always seems to be the one projecting their own internal insecurities on society isn't lost on me.
All in all, a total of 5 Executives were ARRESTED!
The case, which first erupted back in 2020 following a wave of anonymous testimonies on Twitter (now X), has now been brought to light through investigative reports by Libération and Numérama.
The initial fallout was almost immediate, with Hascoët, Ubisoft’s former creative director and number two in command, resigning, while François and Patrux were dismissed for serious misconduct. Now... fast-forward to years after the alleged toxic workplace behavior, they'll now finally be forced to answer for their actions in court.
A Culture of Abuse and Humiliation
The allegations against François, who served as Ubisoft’s vice president of editorial, are particularly ...disturbing. Testimonies from the plaintiffs paint quite the 'horrifying' picture of the workplace environment he fostered.
His behavior had reportedly included publicly playing pornographic films at full volume, forcing surprise kisses on employees, and degrading colleagues with insults such as “bitch,” “ugly,” and “slut.” One incident even described him coercing a newly hired employee into doing a handstand in an open office while wearing a skirt. In another, he allegedly tied an employee to a chair, placed her in an elevator, and sent her to another floor—actions that sound more like fraternity hazing than professional conduct... But nope. This was at Ubisoft's offices.
Most disturbingly, François is also facing an attempted sexual assault charge after reportedly trying to forcefully kiss an employee during a Christmas party while colleagues held her down. This sounds like a skit gone wrong from the show The Office. Things that don't actually happen IRL.. allegedly were... happening.
The toxic culture didn’t stop with François, though...
Hascoët, who held immense power within the walls of Ubisoft, stands accused of making sexually inappropriate remarks and racist comments. One example, as cited in the investigative report, involved him asking a Muslim employee after the 2015 terrorist attacks if she subscribed to the ideology of the Islamic State. He also allegedly subjected her to Islamophobic harassment, such as things like changing her computer wallpaper to images of bacon sandwiches and placing food on her desk during Ramadan. The guy sounds like a dick tbh.
The third defendant, Patrux, a former “game director” also faces charges of moral harassment, rounding out what appears at least on the surface here, to be a deeply entrenched pattern of workplace abuse.
Ubisoft’s Systemic Rot
The real horror of this case isn’t just the actions of a few men, but moreso, Ubisoft’s complete failure to stop any of it from happening. According to the investigation, dozens of witnesses were heard, yet many declined to file complaints, fearing retaliation from the gaming industry. This doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, the way the game industry has been built upon blackballing anyone who doesn't adhere to the cult almost encourages this type of silent atmosphere.
The common thread among these testimonies? Ubisoft’s human resources department knew about all of it... and did nothing. As the report states, HR demonstrated “inertia” despite being repeatedly alerted to misconduct. This aligns with what industry watchdogs and employee advocates have long accused gaming companies of—turning a blind eye to toxic behavior, so long as the perpetrators hold enough power. Again, not surprising in the current environment.
The Solidaires Informatique union, which spearheaded the first legal complaints in 2021, denounced “the workings of a system which manipulates, exhausts, and crushes the company’s workers.” One of the nine plaintiffs back then, represented by attorney Benjamin Bohbot, detailed “multiple humiliating acts and remarks which caused significant psychological repercussions.” Reading into this situation further was pretty f'd to be honest.
Despite the overwhelming testimonies, Hascoët continues to deny any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier, released a statement claiming he “categorically denies having harassed a single one of his colleagues” and that he was unaware of any inappropriate acts committed by other Ubisoft employees... Which is odd if HR knew about all this, it was documented even back then, and they did nothing.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys reject this defense outright. “From the moment it is something anchored in the company and the managers do not intervene to stop it, it is systemic to the company,” argues lawyer Charlotte Merigot. Another lawyer, representing the Solidaires Informatique union, didn’t mince words either: “I have seen several cases of moral or sexual harassment, and I have never seen such a desire to humiliate.”
The Gaming Industry's #MeToo Reckoning
This case here is just the latest in an extremely long line of scandals that have exposed the gross underbelly of the gaming industry’s rampant issues with workplace misconduct. Ubisoft has already suffered significant reputational damage from the 2020 revelations, but this trial happening now will only serve as a definitive test of whether justice will truly be served—or if the industry will continue to shield its abusers. The fact that it's Ubisoft, the arbiter of truth in DEI being the one facing this situation once again goes to show everyone that the companies pushing DEI the hardest... have the most skeletons to hide.
~Smash
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Shoutout to Hypnotic for the tip off on this situation. Check out his video below for his take on the insanity as well!
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Yeah i heard about this a year ago or so when Endymion covered it. I'll just say what i said back then. These guys are clearly victims of misandrists or "militant feminists" who have regularly claimed work place harassment, sexual harassment and hostile workplace in order to keep men down. The Perfect Bachelor did a video about this even longer ago called "Women wanted men gone and now that they are, they regret it", or something to that effect, about how women filed a hostile workplace charge against a guy for literally maintaining a professional demeanor with his female coworkers instead of being personal and flirtatious. It also doesn't help that these claims are ludicrous. Most people would just walk out if…
So, if this is true, because of course Women NEVER lie about abuse, can we expect it to actually give the whole DEI agenda more strength?
Now, there absolutely should be consequences, I'm not advocating this kind of shleppy behavior. However, it ultimately could prove to be a lose/lose situation. What will give the DEI/ESG/Feminist/Cultural Marxist agenda more firepower than actual, real, 'Patriarchal Oppression'?
The Muslim hazing... that's a complicated issue. In a Muslim-dominated culture, there would be FAR more to deal with than some guy being a jackass. It doesn't justify the harassment, but how surprising is that kind of behavior after all the Muslim immigrant behavior in Europe?
The hits just keep coming you can't make this up
There are some pretty good chances that all the feminists Ubisoft hired made false rape accusations, like most other #MeToo cases.