A French court has concluded its hearings in the case of three former Ubisoft executives accused of sexual harassment, bullying and attempted rape. The prosecutor called the evidence "convincing" and the case a "watershed moment" for the gaming industry, The Guardian reports.
The defendants include former creative director Serge Hascoët, former vice president Tommy Francois and former director Guillaume Patru. According to prosecutor Antoine Gaushalter, the events at Ubisoft's offices in the Paris suburbs between 2010 and 2020 are evidence of "systemic sexism" that has been silenced and left unpunished for years.
Witnesses described an atmosphere of constant pressure, neglect, and fear. Women said they were tied to chairs and had pictures of genitals pasted onto their computers. Managers indulged in sexist and homophobic jokes, viewing pornography in the common office, physical advances, unwanted touching, and offensive comments about their appearance and sex lives.
One witness stated that Tommy Francois forced her to do a handstand while she was in her skirt.
"He was my superior and I was afraid of him. He made me do handstands. I did it to get it over with and get rid of him," she told the court.
At a Christmas party in 2015, Francois, according to another woman, tried to forcefully kiss her, holding her down with the help of colleagues. During a business trip to the US, he grabbed an employee by the hair and forcibly kissed her, after which HR told her: "don’t make a big thing of it." Later, according to her, rumors spread within the company that she kissed Francois of her own free will.
Francois also showed women photos of his buttocks, drew penises on their hands with a marker during video calls with management, and once tied a woman to a chair with duct tape during a meeting, pushed her into an elevator, and pressed a random button. He denies all the allegations, saying they were just "joking around" in the office.
Serge Hascoët, the company's second-in-command after the CEO, was said to have made public comments about the sex lives of women in the company. He once told a meeting that a female employee was "having problems because of a lack of sex" and that he would "help her" in the next room. He also gave his subordinates used tissues, made them wait for packages to be delivered to his home, and constantly discussed sex in the workplace.
Serge Hascoët denied all accusations: "I have never wanted to harass anyone and I don’t think I have."
Guillaume Patru is accused of persistently aggressive behavior. According to witnesses, he punched walls, imitated punching colleagues, held a whip and waved it in the faces of employees, threatened to shoot in the office and once set fire to a colleague's beard with a lighter. Patru has also denied all charges.
The prosecutor said that such behavior went unpunished for years due to a silent corporate culture.
"It’s not that these actions were not punished by the law before. It’s just that they were silenced, and from now on they will not be silenced," said a representative of the prosecution.
After four days of hearings, the judges went into deliberations to deliver their verdict. The date for the announcement of the decision has not yet been announced.