An alleged internal Ubisoft document declares that “representation is part of our DNA” and that the company “firmly stands for diversity and inclusion.”
A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
This alleged document was shared to social media by YouTuber TheQuartering. The document begins, “First, we want to make it very clear that we do not accept hate, harassment and other forms of abuse in any way, and we are deeply saddened to see the negativity and hatred currently spreading on our co-workers’ personal profiles, and on our and our partners’ social media platforms.”
It continues, “We are proud to represent the diversity and inclusion that exists in society as part of our everyday work. Representation is part of our DNA and will remain that way regardless of external pressure or influences.”
A screenshot from Skull and Bones (2024), Ubisoft
READ: Ubisoft Responds To Backlash That ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Jabba The Hutt Mission Is Paywalled
Next, the document instructs, “If you are exposed to or witness any negative behaviours towards your colleagues online, do not hesitate to reach out to your manager, Arcade HR or the Communications Team. We are here to help. Should a situation escalate to a point where you feel unsafe, please contact the Ubisoft Security and Risk Management (SRM) team. SRM has a team of dedicated staff to manage security concerns: they will assess the severity of the situation and provide personalized guidance. As always, report immediate and severe personal safety concerns to your local emergency number.”
“Given the current polarization of this topic online, we believe that having a respectful and constructive dialogue is difficult – if not impossible – to achieve. In this context, we ask you not to engage in or interact with these conversations, as this could worsen the situation for yourself, our teams and our industry peers. You can also set your accounts to private and/or turn off private messages from people who are not in your list of trusted friends. Do this across all your social accounts, even if you are only receiving unwelcome messages on certain platforms.”
A screenshot from The Crew Motorfest (2023), Ubisoft Ivory Tower
The portion of the document shared by TheQuartering concludes, “Ubisoft firmly stands for diversity and inclusion in our workplace and our games, and we believe there is no room for hate in gaming.”
Ubisoft has been melting down internally over criticism of their DEI efforts. Quadruples down internally. pic.twitter.com/j9GGmDKsCw
— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) April 21, 2024
It’s unclear what this document is in response to as Ubisoft has embroiled themselves in numerous controversies. Back at the end of January, the company’s Director of Subscriptions Philippe Tremblay told Games Industry, “One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.”
However, he did indicate that gamers would still have access to the games, “I still have two boxes of DVDs. I definitely understand the gamers perspective with that. But as people embrace that model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you’ll be able to access them when you feel like. That’s reassuring. Streaming is also a thing that works really well with subscription. So you pay when you need it, as opposed to paying all the time.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023), Ubisoft
This appeared to be a bald faced lie as the company completely shut down The Crew. It announced back in December in a blog post, “Today, The Crew 1, including all its editions, and virtual currency packs, will be delisted from all online stores. The game will remain playable until March 31st, 2024, for all The Crew 1 owners. After this date, the servers will be shut down, which means that the game will not be accessible anymore on any platform, including PC / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / PlayStation 4 / Amazon Luna and Ubisoft+.”
The company explained, “We understand this may be disappointing for players still enjoying the game, but it has become a necessity due to upcoming server infrastructure and licensing constraints. Decommissioning a game, and especially our first one, is not something we take lightly. Our goal remains to provide the best action driving gameplay experience for players and to deliver on it, we are continuing to provide new content and support for The Crew 2 and the recently launched The Crew Motorfest.”
In the beginning of April, players revealed they no longer had access to the game and their license on Ubisoft Connect had been revoked.
A screenshot from The Crew (2016), Ivory Tower
The company was also getting roasted for its Skull and Bones game, which players lampooned for its steep price tag and lack of gameplay elements. The game currently has a 3.4 User Score on Metacritic across all platforms.
Skull and Bones Metacritic User Score
According to Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming the game only had a total of 850,000 players and that included players with free trials, meaning sales were worse than 850,000.
Henderson reported, “Speaking with sources, the game currently has around 850,000 players total at the time of writing, which includes those who have opted to play the game with the eight-hour free trial provided by Ubisoft.”
A screenshot from Skull and Bones (2024), Ubisoft
The biggest controversy the company has embroiled itself in is the employment of Shauna Jones as its Star Wars Outlaws Community Manager. Jones has numerous posts on her social media accounts disparaging white men.
As shared via screenshots to X by user Kooks12_, Jones posted back in January 2020, “If you’re a white dude complaining that diversity being raised is an issue … then people are going to keep raising the lack of diversity until we see change. That s**ts got to change man.”
In another post in September 2020, she wrote, “Love that if you say you’re trying to be more body positive, white men assume that you’re saying you’re fat and tell you to go to the gym B**** I’m a size 12 …. Being body positive has nothing to do with weight.”
She also wrote in July 2020, “Please don’t tell me gender isn’t an issue in the games industry when you are a white male. Diversity in general is an issue in the industry, I guess as a white male who is not always represented …. its easier to not know or see the misrepresentation in studios.”
She also criticized streamer Ninja for not teaching about “White Privilege” on his streams. She wrote in January 2021, “Ninja is boasting about his ‘white privilege’ by doing this. He has the potential to influence millions of kids and chooses to be a sack of beans. Use your platform for good if you have the opportunity. Don’t do a Ninja.”
Here’s another woke community manager that I found yesterday (working on Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar Frontiers Of Pandora), with her LinkedIn page where she wrote down all of her responsibilities.
Confirms everything Grummz just stated. pic.twitter.com/izI3x7pg5d
— Kooks (@Kooks12_) April 6, 2024
Former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern, would share a number of other posts from Jones as well as these after she was brought to his attention.
In December 2020, she wrote, “Gamer BOYS ruin online games.”
In August 2022, she responded to a post about Allan Cudicio claiming he was mistaken for a waiter at Gamescom. Jones posted, “This is shameful behaviour. Proof that we can’t make the games industry a safe and inclusive space when the higher ups don’t understand the importance of diversity and are all middle aged white guys.”
A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
In January 2019, she took issue with Days Gone writing, “I’m enjoying playing Days Gone but at the same time, the lack of diversity really upsets me.”
She added in a response to another user, “Like even the camps are full of white people.”
She also took issue with gamers back in 2017, “I know the industry itself is maturing, but the gamers … man they need to sort themselves out :(”
In 2019, she also posted “Yay !! Diversity finally. No more middle aged white men.”
It’s all yt’s fault. pic.twitter.com/7mlSF2H6k1
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 6, 2024
The company has also seen a number of its games listed on the Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list that acts as a boycott list. The list tracks all games that Sweet Baby Inc., a consultancy firm that pushes woke ideologies into video games, has worked on.
Ubisoft games on the list include Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and The Crew Motorfest.
Screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (2022), Ubisoft Montreal
What do you make of Ubisoft doubling down on woke ideology?
