Ubisoft Reportedly Fires VP After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Ubisoft’s vice president of editorial and creative services Tommy Francois was reportedly let go from the company following allegations of sexual misconduct. Initially, Ubisoft claimed that the executive had left the company, but sources at Gamasutra indicate his employment may have been terminated. According to those sources, Francois was terminated with cause, and will not receive a financial settlement. He will retain any shares of the company that he may have already owned, but will be prevented from purchasing any additional shares. Francois had reportedly been suspended without pay since early last month. Ubisoft is based in France, and it seems that French law may prevent the company from referring to these terminations as such.

The news follows the departure of Maxime Belland, which Ubisoft also labelled as a resignation. The company has been at the center of a number of misconduct allegations over the last few weeks, prompting a statement from Ubisoft. In that statement, Ubisoft promised to take “any and all appropriate disciplinary action” as well as “auditing our existing policies, processes, and systems to understand where these have broken down, and to ensure we can better prevent, detect, and punish inappropriate behavior.”

In addition to the allegations against Ubisoft, a number of similar misconduct allegations have been made throughout the video game industry over the last few weeks. Last month, accusations against EVO so-founder and CEO Joey Cuellar prompted the fighting game tournament to cut ties with Cuellar, and cancel EVO Online. A few weeks later, allegations against professional Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player ZeRo prompted a ban from Twitch. Several other allegations of misconduct and predatory behavior have been made against other professional players, as well.

At this time, Ubisoft has not commented on the allegation that Francois was terminated from the company, and may be legally prevented from doing so. Ubisoft is the largest game company in Europe, responsible for franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Rayman, and Far Cry. The company was valued earlier this year at $9.6 billion. Ubisoft has multiple subsidiaries located around the globe.

ComicBook.com will update this post should new information come in.

To learn more about what you can do to prevent sexual violence, please consider donating to RAINN or visit RAINN’s website for a number of resources. If you or a loved one has suffered because of sexual violence, contact RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline.