A government investigation into Ubisoft Singapore has been opened by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices, following allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. It puts further pressure back on the French publisher, as renewed complaints over workplace toxicity and a lawsuit have been launched roughly one year on from the floods of allegations made across its global studios last summer.
The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) probe could lead to serious consequences for the studio if they are found to have fallen foul of the anti-discrimination policies laid out in the Ministry of Manpower’s Fair consideration Framework. The Ministry could prevent the company from apply for new work passes for incoming foreign staff, or renewing existing ones for a period of up to 24 months.
Meanwhile, cases of sexual misconduct will be forwarded to the police for individual investigation – caning is still a punishment handed out in Singapore alongside fines and jail time – and Ubisoft could be held liable under the Protection from Harassment Act, with both civil and criminal suits that could follow.
In response to the renewed allegations, Ubisoft Singapore managing director Darryl Long said in early August: “It’s very important that we can talk about these things and that we acknowledge what’s going on in our industry right now…
“We need to start to change the way we are perceived and the way we act internally as well.”
Skull & Bones has been in development at Ubisoft Singapore since 2013.
The new TAFEP probe follows on from reporting by Kotaku last month, with the government body following up after anonymous feedback linked them to articles about the allegations found in the press.
Kotaku spoke to 20 current and former employees, bringing to light allegations of sexual harassment, racial pay disparity and bullying by managers. Some of this stemmed from the leadership of former managing director Hugues Ricour, who was removed from his role as the significance of the internal issues within Ubisoft’s workplaces came to light – he remains at Ubisoft as “production intelligence director”. Under Ricour’s watch, the studio has been internally regarded as one of the most toxic studios within Ubisoft, from excessively harsh employee evaluations to cases of sexual harassment that were brushed under the rug – Ricour himself is implicated as pursuing a female subordinate for kissing and hugs, but this was ignored by HR when reported.
Ubisoft Singapore is a huge studio with over 500 staff working on a variety of projects for Ubisoft. Historically they have played a supporting role to other productions, including most of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but were given the chance to develop their own original IP in 2013. Originally envisioned as a spinoff from the naval combat that they developed for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, this would morph into Skull & Bones, a game that has been repeatedly delayed from an original release date window in late 2018 to the most recent release window of early 2022.
Source: The Straits Times, Kotaku
