Ubisoft Employees Support Activision Blizzard Walkout With Open Letter
The past few years have seen a rising reckoning in the gaming industry’s biggest companies. Riot Games notably was accused of fostering an environment that fostered sexual harassment, and a lawsuit was recently filed against Activision Blizzard by the state of California accusing the same issues. After Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s reaction to the lawsuit was insufficient, a group of the company’s employees announced a walkout that took place this past Wednesday. Ubisoft notably faced similar accusations of systemic harassment and toxicity in its organization last year, and now a group of Ubisoft employees has expressed their support for the Activision Blizzard walkout.
As reported by Game Informer, a letter representing hundreds of current and former Ubisoft employees has surfaced and been shared by Axios. In the letter, the collective of employees stated their support for the Activision Blizzard employees participating in the walkout, and their belief in the concerns the walkout pertains to. As the letter further states:
“It should no longer be a surprise to anyone: employees, executives, journalists, or fans that these heinous acts are going on. It is time to stop being shocked. We must demand real steps be taken to prevent them. Those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.”
The Ubisoft employees’ letter also took the time to reiterate the sexual harassment and toxicity issues that Ubisoft was accused of last year. While Ubisoft did push for the resignation of key individuals responsible like Tommy Francois and Maxime Beland, recent reports indicated that not much additional change has been made at the company. As the employees iterate:
“We have stood by and watched as you fired only the most public offenders. You let the rest either resign or worse, promoted them, moved them from studio to studio, team to team, giving them second chance after second chance with no repercussions. This cycle needs to stop.”
The Ubisoft employees suggest that major gaming companies like Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft should create a “set of rules and processes for handling reports of these offenses” that give lower-level employees a platform to speak up to their higher-level counterparts. Transparent, power-balancing movements like these will be crucial in fixing these systemic issues, and hopefully, the employees from these companies convince other organizations to learn from them.
What do you guys think about the Ubisoft employees expressing their support for the Activision Blizzard walkout? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to stay tuned for the latest gaming news, such as the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremonies featuring various video game soundtrack songs, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!
Cory Lara2137 Posts
A royally radical and totally tubular 90s kid, Cory has a passion for all things nerdy, particularly gaming and nostalgia. While an accountant by day, he strives to be as creative and humorous as possible in his free time, be it here writing on Don't Feed the Gamers, or making dumb satirical posts on his Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram accounts.