Everything You Hate About Ubisoft Games Came From ONE Man

Following up his excellent report into the accusations of sexual misconduct, homophobia and racism levelled at several former senior executives at Ubisoft, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has shed more light on why former Dragon Age designer Mike Laidlaw left the company after only one year.

Apparently it's because of Ubisoft's former creative lead, Serge Hascoët, who also featured heavily in Schreier's previous report. Alongside the allegations of sexual misconduct and cultivating a toxic working environment, it was also reported that Hascoët was responsible for the homogenisation of every Ubisoft franchise, with almost every major creative decision on each game having to go through him.

The prior report alleged that Hascoët constantly shut down Ubisoft's efforts to focus on female protagonists in the latest three Assassin's Creed games, alongside having a severe dislike of linear storytelling and cutscenes.

The new report claims that these creative restrictions ultimately led to the departure of Mike Laidlaw, who was working on a King Arthur game titled "Avalon" at Ubisoft. According to sources, Hascoët didn't like the fantasy setting, and unless the game was to be "better than Tolkien", he didn't want to proceed with it. A little while later, the project was cancelled and Laidlaw left the company.

Since the allegations of misconduct gained traction a little while ago, Ubisoft has since cut ties with Hascoët and other accused executives, promising rigorous investigations and structural changes to the workforce.