The summer of 2020 saw Ubisoft come under fire with dozens and dozens of sexual misconduct allegations from current and former employees. Ubisoft responded to the allegations, promising to do better and take care of all the sexual abuse and harassment cases that had been mishandled, pushed aside, or ignored entirely. During this time, the Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood was founded by Kulpreet Virdi in direct response to the allegations against Ubisoft. The fan-made community advocates for change within the Assassin’s Creed games and studios, as well as Ubisoft as a whole.

In response to reports that not as much has been done as promised, many fans are calling for the company to own up to its missteps and be transparent going forward. A report from Le Telegramme detailed that, according to many employees, despite some changes being made internally, not a lot had changed at Ubisoft. The company quickly responded with a detailed list of all the ways it had implemented changes since July 2020 and how there’s more coming in the future. With the Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood, one of the primary focuses has always been accountability on Ubisoft’s part, which is why the community is needed now more than ever.

RELATED: Assassin's Creed Sisterhood Founder Talks Better Representation for Women in Gaming

The Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood was created in August 2020 as a way to advocate for change from Ubisoft regarding the treatment of its employees and for better representation of women in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Among the sexual misconduct allegations against multiple members of Ubisoft’s HR, it was also revealed that the Assassin’s Creed franchise hasn’t had a mainline female protagonist because there was a belief amongst the executives that “women don’t sell” in video games. This is where the primary focus of the Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood comes from, as it wants both accountability and change in Ubisoft.

The symbol of the Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood pays homage to a female character diminished bit by bit during the production of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Amunet. It stands as a symbol for all the women within the Assassin’s Creed community, whether they are characters within the games, the developers behind the scenes, the actors that brought those scenes to life, or fans of the game. The Sisterhood is open to all who want accountability from Ubisoft and better representation of women in the Assassin’s Creed games.

Since the time during its inception, Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood has worked hard both upfront and behind the scenes to accomplish its goals of better representation and accountability at Ubisoft. It’s hosted fundraisers for organizations like Girls Make Games and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Sisterhood Speaks podcast has also interviewed many different voices from the Assassin’s Creed community, including the voices behind Amunet/ Aya (Alix Wilton Regan) and Cleopatra (Zora Bishop.)

While the Sisterhood will always be there to fight for these matters of representation and accountability, it’s important to remember that it’s a fan-made movement. Ultimately, it’s up to Ubisoft to not only face the consequences of its actions, but implement change to make sure sexual misconduct is handled correctly in the future, and hopefully put a stop to it entirely. The Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood will always be there to advocate for change, but it’s Ubisoft’s job to acknowledge what it’s done wrong and correct its behavior.

It’s apparent from the report from Le Telegramme that Ubisoft needs a lot of restructuring and change internally. While the company did respond with all it has done so far, it’s not surprising that many people are skeptical when there’s no proof in the pudding. Until there are tangible results, it’s hard to believe that there has been any meaningful change within Ubisoft as a company.

RELATED: What Ubisoft Needs To Do Next Regarding Its Misconduct Allegations

A statement from Ubisoft says that there have been new anonymous reporting tools for employees to use as well as workplace training to educate employees about proper workplace conduct, a revamped code of conduct, and new HR processes, including the appointing of new people to the HR team. While this statement reads very well and seems to show that Ubisoft is dedicated to change, Ubisoft needs to make these documents and processes more public. Many fans feel as if they cannot take the company at its word, and reasonably so.

Sexual misconduct has been going on for years at Ubisoft, but July 2020 was the first time many people’s stories were told—the first at such volume. The workplace culture that allowed this misconduct to happen needs to be eradicated, and that starts with getting rid of the offenders. Simply moving them to a different role in the company, as Ubisoft did with Hugues Ricour and Florent Castelnerac, isn’t an effective way to enact change. Replacing one person isn't the answer either, but effective and meaningful change on all levels has to be addressed. The workplace culture within Ubisoft needs to change, it's that simple.

One of the primary goals of Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood has always been to hold Ubisoft accountable for its actions and how it treats its employees, and that is where it will continue to advocate for change. It’s been incredibly disheartening to see how much work, effort, and energy has gone into the Sisterhood in terms of advocacy only to find out that Ubisoft isn’t holding itself as accountable as it should. In fact, it only shows how long the road ahead is in terms of seeing real change within Ubisoft as a company, but that's also exactly why the movement is as important as ever. It is the push for the right changes, the safe place for the company's shortcomings, and a symbol of everything at Ubisoft that needs to change.

The Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood has shown that resiliency and continual advocacy is the way to change. Using #ACSisterhood on Twitter to show support for the cause will hopefully show the company that its fans are out there watching its next moves very carefully. Sexual misconduct, in the workplace or otherwise, should never be the norm and companies need to actively fight against the culture that makes that behavior a regularity. Ubisoft needs to do better—especially now that the world is watching.

MORE: Assassin's Creed Sisterhood Founder Talks Valhalla's Marketing, Eivor Funko Pop

Source: Le Telegramme (via GamesIndustry.Biz)