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Ubisoft editorial boss Béland resigns due to abuse allegations

Ubisoft editorial boss Béland resigns due to abuse allegations

The VP of Ubisoft's editorial team Maxime Béland has resigned from the company in the wake of allegations made against him.

The French publishing giant confirmed the news to GamesIndustry.biz, saying that Béland's resignation was "effective immediately." The firm said it was continuing its investigation into the allegations made against him.

This follows a report that said Béland was one of two Ubisoft VPs – among a number of employees – placed on administrative leave, alongside VP of creative services Tommy François. Both had faced numerous allegations of misconduct against them.

Ubisoft has confirmed that François is on disciplinary leave "pending the outcome of an investigation."

"Ubisoft will not tolerate workplace misconduct and will continue taking disciplinary action against anyone who engages in harassment, discrimination and other behaviours that infringe on our Code of Fair Conduct," the company said.

This comes due to a wave of allegations of sexual harassment, assault or misconduct against those working in the games industry. A number of these accusations have been levelled against Ubisoft staff, with the French firm launching an investigation into the claims made against its staff.

In a letter to Ubisoft employees, CEO Yves Guillemot had vowed to "personally follow" all the allegations at the company. In a public post last week, he also set out how the publishing giant was going to change its working culture due to the allegations made against its staff.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.