Operations Officer Virginie Haas says the results of the external audit make it impossible for her to remain in that position
The results of the external audits that are being organized in the Ubisoft studios in the wake of the latest controversies about its leadership continue to show results. The last known consequence is the sudden departure from his position of Hugues Ricour, CEO of Ubisoft Singapore since 2018. In the internal mail obtained by Kotaku, the recent operations officer, Virginie Haas, affirms that “immediately, Hugues Ricour leaves from being CEO of Ubisoft Singapore. The results of the leadership audit conducted in the last two weeks by our external partners make it impossible for him to continue in this role. “
An inexorable cleaning process
Haas entered his post last August as the spearhead of Yves Guillemot’s initiative in the face of public reports that were emerging about the behavior and attitude of some of the heavyweights within the company that began to be made public this summer. The attitude of the president was forceful, stating that the “change began today”, beginning a series of initiatives that should thoroughly review the actions and attitudes of some names that had been sacred cows of the company until now, as well as the general structure of the company and the well-being of its members.
The list of “severed heads” since then is long. Serge Hascoet, the all-powerful Chief Creative Officer and the person who has driven and approved all of Ubisoft’s projects for decades, was one of the first to fall despite his closeness to Guillemot. Cécile Cornet, global head of the human resources department, also came out withering at the evidence that she had swept multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior under the rug. Yannis Mallat, the head of Canadian studies, also left the company alongside a string of names of which Ricour is the last piece, for the moment.
Not only is the Singapore studio a key piece in the complex global assembly machinery that Assassin’s Creed requires, it is also working on its first solo game, Skulls and Bones, a naval combat game planned for 2021.
