The fallout of Ubisoft’s ongoing internal investigation into a toxic work culture has claimed yet another victim.
Sexual misconduct allegations have rocked Ubisoft since last month. Multiple executives have resigned and high-ranking employees have been fired as Ubisoft continues to investigate those allegations and transform its workplace culture as outlined in an open letter from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.
The latest executive to resign is Andrée Cossette, managing director at Ubisoft Quebec with a 22-year history at the French publishing giant.
"It is with great emotion that I now turn the page on 22 years at Ubisoft and that I begin a new professional chapter, which remains to be written," Cossette wrote on her LinkedIn profile. She, along with Nicolas Rioux, co-founded Ubisoft Quebec back in 2005 after working in human resources roles at Ubisoft Montreal.
"My decision is the result of long reflection and is unrelated to the current situation within the Ubisoft Group. When I look at the past 15 years at the Quebec City studio, I am extremely proud of our journey."
As GamesIndustry.biz notes, Ubisoft HR has come under particular scrutiny during these allegations, with multiple publications accusing HR of enabling and protecting powerful men within the company and turning a blind eye to a toxic work culture that placed meeting deadlines above all else.
With most of Cossette's time at Ubisoft spent in human resources roles, many of the allegations that surfaced would have occurred under her watch.
That said, Cossette is hardly the first, nor likely to be the last Ubisoft HR executive to leave the company during this trying time. Global head of Ubisoft HR Cécile Cornet handed in her resignation earlier this month soon after the allegations truly picked up steam.
So many high-ranking Ubisoft employees have left that CEO Yves Guillemot himself is being questioned by investors about what he might have known regarding the allegations.
A power France-based technology union, Solidaires Informatique, is now seeking those answers through the courts by suing Ubisoft on behalf of wronged employees. “It seems that there is a company policy that values its profits before the health and safety of its employees," reads an official statement from the union.
Source: LinkedIn, GamesIndustry.biz