A new employee at video game publisher Ubisoft has been fired as the company finds itself at the heart of a case of sexual assault and harassment. Since the emergence of the first testimonies at the end of June, several leaders of the group have indeed been pushed to exit or have resigned, in particular the number 2 of the group and the director of HR. 

A new dismissal at Ubisoft, at the heart of a case of assault and sexual harassment for several weeks. The video game publisher has fired a new creative director, Ashraf Ismail, who was notably the head of the studio that produced the studio's next title, Assassin's Creed Valhalla , scheduled for November 17, the company confirmed on Friday. 'AFP. Accused by an employee of having lied about her marital status and of having taken advantage of her status to have extramarital affairs, the employee had already announced in June to take a step back, posting at the same time on Twitter a message in which he declared himself "deeply sorry for all those who have been injured".

"At the end of an internal investigation, Ashraf Ismail was fired from Ubisoft and is no longer one of our employees," a spokesperson for the group confirmed to AFP, without specifying whether the investigation was in progress. link to the charges against his ex-creative director. He had joined Ubisoft's Montreal studio in 2011 and had already provided creative direction for two previous titles in the  Assassin's Creed series: Black Flag , released in 2013 and Origins , which dates from 2017. 

Several departures since the revelations

Since the emergence of the first testimonies at the end of June, several leaders of the group have indeed been pushed towards the exit or have resigned, including the number two of the group, Serge Hascoët, who left his post as head of creation in mid-July. The head of the Montreal studio, the vice-president in charge of editorial service and the group's director of human resources have also left Ubisoft.

The company, which has 18,000 employees worldwide, 22% of whom are women, has launched several internal investigations since the first revelations and has begun restructuring its human resources department, accused of having covered up certain toxic behaviors.

During the presentation of his staggered quarterly results on July 22, Yves Guillemot assured that the group must "nevertheless take up a very serious challenge following the recent allegations and accusations of bad behavior and inappropriate behavior. I am determined to put implementing profound changes to improve and strengthen our corporate culture ".