After accusations of mishandling sexual misconduct claims, Ubisoft has announced it is making strides to combat toxicity in the workplace. The company is altering the way it will both detect and deal with inappropriate behavior by reworking the HR process and dealing blows to bonuses for team leads when there is poor performance.
According to a Ubisoft press release, the company will be transforming its HR process so it can better catch and prevent issues before they start. The release also states that the goal is to create "positive and inclusive" workplace environments, and bonuses for team leads are tied directly to their ability to do so. It does not mention how this will be measured, however. Additionally, a campaign will be launched that will focus on raising harassment awareness for all of the company's employees in the form of training modules.
Jason Schreier also reports (in a since-deleted tweet) that Ubisoft CFO Frederick Duguet, during an earnings call, discussed diversity in Ubisoft. This is likely in response to the recent allegations, which saw the resignation of CCO Serge Hascoet and two other executive-level employees. It is worth noting that while Ubisoft titles do have a decent amount of diversity and inclusion, it was recently reported that development in Assassin's Creed Odyssey was affected by misogyny.
The developers behind the title say there was an issue they encountered with the company concerning the game's lead character. According to the team, they wanted Kassandra to be Odyssey's only protagonist. However, Ubisoft's marketing team and the game's creative lead nixed the idea, claiming women don't sell. A strange claim, considering many players enjoyed the journey as Kassandra. There's no evidence this is the case with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, but the reveal trailer did only featured the male version of the protagonist, Eivor.
In Valhalla, the lead character will keep the same name, male or female, and players can switch sexes in Valhalla anytime throughout the game. This feature will be welcomed by those who either felt they made a mistake during character creation or who just want to switch things up. While Ubisoft may have issues with a female-only protagonist in the past (or main) portions of the series, those occurring in the present belong to Layla Hassan, the woman who has taken over for Desmond.
The modern-day storyline will be continuing in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has been a bumpy journey since the series' inception. The narrative got extremely convoluted over time and lost many players who became disinterested in what was happening with the Assassins and Templars in the present. That has changed with Layla, and AC's modern-day story is improving. Players are interested in seeing how her journey will play out.