Ubisoft's Maxime Béland Resigns Following Abuse Allegations

Ubisoft's vice president of editorial Maxime Béland has resigned following abuse and misconduct allegations made against the previous creative director on Splinter Cell Conviction and Splinter Cell Blacklist. As reported by Gamasutra, Ubisoft also announced that Ubisoft vice president of editorial Tommy François was "placed on disciplinary leave pending the outcome of an investigation." Béland and François, who both worked out of the Ubisoft Toronto office, were both placed on administrative leave last week alongside several other employees. Ubisoft also confirmed that another unnamed individual from its Toronto office was fired for "engaging in behaviours that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees." The full statement from Ubisoft to Gamasutra is as follows;

Hi – I’m providing an update following the internal letter sent by Yves Guillemot yesterday, which outlined a series of initiatives aimed at improving the way in which Ubisoft operates. Maxime Beland, Vice President Editorial, has resigned from his role at Ubisoft, effective immediately. Despite his resignation, we continue to investigate the allegations made against him. Additionally, effective as of yesterday, Tommy François, Vice President Editorial & Creative Services, has been placed on disciplinary leave pending the outcome of an investigation. One other individual in our Toronto studio has been terminated for engaging in behaviors that do not align with what is expected of Ubisoft employees. Other investigations are ongoing and will be conducted rigorously. Ubisoft will not tolerate workplace misconduct and will continue taking disciplinary actions against anyone who engages in harassment, discrimination and other behaviors that infringe on our Code of Fair Conduct.

These moves follow Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot comments and promises that he would "personally follow" each of these recent reports of sexual misconduct at the company. Change had already begun at Ubisoft, as Assassin's Creed Valhalla's creative director Ashraf Ismail stepped down in late June following impropriety allegations. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

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