Farcry 6 Shipped Today!

Since I left the project before it finished I wasn't sure if they would credit me or not. It appears that I did make the credits however.

While I was there I was the game designer and my main focus was on the new Outpost system. I'm not familiar with the shipped version but the version I was working on was each Outpost had an objective which players could choose to got for or not for bonus rewards.  So if you wanted to get the objective you might need to sneak in stealthy or use only explosives, etc.  But if you wanted to do the old kill everyone to concur an outpost you could do that too.  But not sure what shipped.

Anyway, congratz to the team and I guess to myself.  haha

Ubisoft News & Recent Harassment Allegations

As I'm sure many of you are aware Ubisoft has had some issues come to light regarding employee allegations of harassment and poor management.  If not you can follow the link. HERE to learn more.

I worked at Ubisoft Toronto for 8 years and worked with some of the individuals in question.  That being said I do not find these allegations surprising. The writing was on the wall for a long time with this individual and no action was taken.  Seeing interactions between this person and others from the outside I couldn't tell if they were welcomed or not.  I suspected issues (from seeing him following various women around like a puppy) but I never witnessed more.  However I also didn't attended company social gatherings.

Ubisoft Toronto in my opinion spent WAY too much money on booze and parties.  They had an after hours party in the building once a month as well as individual team parties after most milestones.  With multiple team this was a lot of partying.  All parties included beer and many times hard liqueur. I rarely attended these because I had a long commute and could never see how I could party then drive the hour home.  I would much rather the money had been given as an employee bonus instead, so we all could enjoy the rewards.  Plus we now see that these parties gave potential office predators a prime hunting ground.

For me personally I found HR at Ubisoft to be a COMPLETE failure as a place to go when you're having personal or career issues.  For instance I entered the game industry to make games, not to become a manager.  However I found Ubisoft unable to handle a veteran developer uninterested in moving into management.   It seemed if you're content in your role you will be replaced.  I went to HR about these issues and look, I don't work there anymore.  Guess how that went?  Of course these issues I encountered are nothing compared to the sexual harassment others encountered working there.

So now that this dirt is all out there in the public eye, management is suddenly very concerned.  CEO Yves Guillemot made a statement about how shocked he is and how change needs to happen.  His statement HERE.

In closing I'm thrilled to no longer be employed at Ubisoft Toronto and am truly saddened to hear some of my co-workers had to endure this type of treatment daily. ALL events at Ubisoft Toronto were ravenously tweeted and posted on Instagram for the "Look how awesome we are." PR pieces.  I don't think an event would happen at UbiTor if it couldn't be part of a PR spin.  UbiTor worked hard to publicly created an image of being at the forefront of equality & LGBTQ issues in the gaming industry, but internally failed to uphold these beliefs.

UPDATE: And the news continues.  Serge and Yannis also stepped down as well as the head of HR Cecile Cornet.  Serge was the guy that made all the go/no go calls for most if not all Ubisoft titles.  Yannis was the president of Ubisoft Canada.  I would assume Cecile resigned for protecting them instead of taking action however that is just my speculation.

Read more HERE



NOTE: HR is there to help the company.  The company signs their pay checks, their job is to protect them.  They aren't there to help employees with their problems.  They're there to stop employee problems from hurting the company.  Be on your guard, question the things they say.  My girlfriend went to her company HR department about a harassment issue.  They express how important it was that she came to them and scheduled a meeting with her for the next day.  Magically she was "laid off" that afternoon.  Was it wrong and illegal?  Sure but it still happened and she didn't have the funds to fight it.  So really consider that before going to them with an issue.  I'm not saying don't address the issues with them, I'm saying be prepared.  HR is not your friend.

Ubisoft & Coffee Gripe

So this is kind of a dumb thing but it bugs me. I've been around the industry for awhile & worked at several companies.Usually the studio wants to encourage you to be at your job, happy, and working.  So they offer little perks.  Raven for instance had free coffee and free soda 24/7.  Gray Matter was really over the top. They had a full stocked fridge and would go get anything you wanted upon request.  Hell they even bought me a pillow and blanket so I could sleep on the floor of my office.  But the standard at all companies I've been at is free coffee.

Ubisoft however doesn't really give you free anything.  Sometimes they have fruit. But snacks, coffee, soda, are all through vending machines.  And pretty high priced vending machines.  A candy bar would cost you $1.50, chips $1.25, and a can of soda $1.  So screw that, we'd go out for coffee.  Going out gives you a chance to step away from the monitors and take a breather.  Since Ubisoft has around 800 employees several coffee shops sprung up within walking distance. So you also were supporting the local economy which is the whole point of Ontario giving them tax breaks, to help boost business overall.

Now I see Ubisoft Toronto added an "in house" coffee shop.  Not a free coffee shop, hell no.  A full fledged pay for coffee and pastries coffee shop, with a freakin' menus on the wall and everything.  What the actual fuck??

It totally reminds me of the old mining companies that would setup a town around the mine.  Then charge their workers for food, rent, supplies, medical care, which was basically taking back the money they pay them.  I believe these practices were deemed illegal?  lol

Then there are all those local coffee shops.  They will be going out of business shortly.  That's gonna be a huge hit on their livelihood. So much for supporting the local economy.

But seriously not cool.  Just have plain standard FREE coffee machines in-house, then let people go to the local businesses for the special coffees and pastries. Their employees work long and hard, literally making Ubisoft millions of dollars. Buy them a fucking cup of coffee.

Farcry 5 Is In Stores Now

Another game in the hopper. Farcry 5 released today.  I hope you all enjoy it.  It was very interesting working on a Farcry game based in the US, created by a French company in Canada. I was a Senior Level Designer on this title at the Toronto studio, which focused on the Northern region of the game.  I’m very proud of the work we all did on Farcry 5.  

I had to do most of my development with the sound off.  The words of the cult leader, the Father in my ears all day was getting to me.  I think it has an unsettling familiarity that Americans such as myself can feel.I could write a whole thing about that but I'm not sure what I'm allowed to talk about so just play it and see if it speaks to you as well.

I grabbed a PS4 copy in hopes that I will buy a PS4 someday.  lol

Meet the Farcry 5 Toronto Team!

Yup, there we are...