Ubisoft Spent Years Protecting Mental And Physical Abusers (The Jimquisition)

Not to make light of the topic but you did miss brilliant wordplay there. The rape company doesn't want to fuck with me.

Pako

Maybe someone like me should see this as a call to action. Just supporting you on patreon doesn't feel like enough for me. Sharing a relevant news article on social media doesn't feel like enough. (This is not a call out to anyone reading, you do what you need to in order to get by in 2020 and beyond). As someone who still plays at least one MMO, I'm trying to bring this up in a manner that emphasizes my rational disturbance and fear of criminal complicity by association. This is backing that up by offering ingame trade items for next to nothing. (Again, this is only crediting Jim for inspiring me to care about something, not a call to action.) As someone who has never been interested in say, The Division and isn't a stockholder, I don't feel like this is meaningful enough, but something is better than nothing. "Ask questions. Don't just consume product. Then get excited if company better supports people making product."

Having scraped the surface level of reports and news on the topic, and being fully aware that people who speak out face existential threats, is there a more detailed summary of explicit allegations? I doubt many details (let alone primary sources) will be known to the public, but given both scale AND severity of the allegations, I do strongly believe that preserving as much information as possible is crucial right now. No matter how ugly the details are.

Wow you are stoked on this subject. I'm going to up my monthly support while this is going on since i have a feeling I'm going to get a bigger bang for my bucks (pun intended). But seriously make sure you take breaks before it break you.

Jolly Man

I feel more encouraged than ever by the video game industry. The shit that's coming out is only coming out cause it's not being tolerated anymore by fans and employees. The only difference between now and before is the progress being made.

Harry Moore

I started as a supporter with the loot box snark, but I’ll gladly continue when Jim points out systematic willful-ignorance. I never would have known it was this bad otherwise.

Spiff

RPS unfortunately engages in sensationalist bullshit at times(like that frankly godawful article that made the bullshit claim that video games can potentially cause real life violence that sounded like it was written by Jack Thompson himself), plus John Walker acted like a total dickhead to Jim on Twitter over his negative review of Homefront Revolution(which granted I also strongly disagreed with, but John was still being super-unprofessional about it) so I do not trust RPS as far as I can throw them as a result of that bullshit.

RedBedroomRecords

Thank you Jim for this video. For everyone interested in responsible game journalism, I feel I can recommend Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Through their media coverage of Ubisoft announcements, they maintained reference to Ubisoft's ongoing allegations at the end of each article. Similar to what Conrad proposed in a Podquisition weeks back. It's PC game focused so it may not help console-only fans. I appreciate their work

I reject your surrender.

JtheFool

Been a longtime fan Jim but this episode reminded me how important the work you're doing is and how we need more people willing to do real reporting. I stopped in the middle just to join up on Patreon. From the bottom of my heart, thanks to you and thanks to Justin for doing all y'all do.

Steven Fann

Nintendo. usually.

Wombatkidd

For those of us who can do even less about this whole scenario than you can, take a fiver and thank god for you, Jim!

Jesse Ninteau

Are there ANY video game companies that are actually half-way decent to employees? You talk about the AAA businesses but I know it's very unlikely it's restricted to just them. What about the smaller companies?

Jason Youngberg

As a person who works in game industry, it sickens me to see these rampant outlaws squirming out of their way unscathed. Although so-called "AAA" game industry will never change, Jim, I just want you to know that your voice is not unheard. Even though it doesn't change much right now, some of us are keep listening to you.

You're good people, Jim. I really appreciate how much work you put into using your platform to help people who are victimized.

Agonarchy

Maybe you should change your 'Oh, Ubisoft! (puke)' catchphrase to something with stronger invective. The 'Oh, Ubisoft!' thing makes them sound like well-meaning fuck-ups. They warrant something harsher.

"AAA" truly embraces "A is for Asshole". Also, you are absolutely right in saying you've been on fire lately (in all the right ways, in my opinion). Keep it coming, we need someone who'll (try to) keep the industry accountable.

Lasse T. Stendan

May your subscriber count go ever up, and may the plague and the police not touch you.

Ubisoft is to the game industry as Trump is to America.

This was far more disgusting than I had ever expected. Not even following your Twitter for the last several days, Jim, did I expect something like this. Good. Fucking. God.

I felt your anger and i'm glad you're OK in spite of said anger, I think it's good that you aren't pulling punches anymore. I have a theory on why at least some fans and journalists aren't forcefully condemning Ubisoft-because of the pandemic and protests and everything else going on, a lot of people are on bad news overload and games are their one escape so they want SOMETHING to look forward to and I can understand them wanting to keep the two issues separate(but fuck the assholes calling the victims liars and the ones trying to bully people that do bring it up into silence). If COVID wasn't a thing I think you would've seen at least a bit more pushback from some outlets, but many people are so worried about the possibility of them or their families dying just from setting foot into a building that for them the Ubisoft stuff pales in comparison and I can understand that mindset even if I don't agree with it. Honestly I wish I could feel much in the way of anger or sadness over this, but I used up all of those emotions when the MeToo movement started three years ago(and yes i'm well aware that the term was created back in 2006 by Tarana Burke before anyone brings that up) after seeing what Weinstein and other rapist shitheads like James Tobak did(guy assaulted over 200 women, that just blows my mind) I just assumed from then on that EVERY single industry was rife with abusers and these stories no longer shocked me in the least and I just kind of became numb to it all and nowadays whenever I hear a new story of abuse like the ones at Ubisoft and at Chikara(who I always had a bad feeling about for years) i'm like "yup that tracks" and then go back to awaiting the next story of abuse from the next big company. Despite all this I still can't help but look forward to Legion and Far Cry 6 and I do still plan on playing them as it's not like things are going to change whether I consume them or not(the only chance of Ubisoft changing for the better is for Yves to step down as CEO and for someone outside the company to be appointed the new CEO, but I don't realistically see that happening anytime soon if ever) and I do still want to remember the good people there, I won't forget the bad shit Ubisoft did and if any fan asks about the abuse, i'm going to tell them and let them decide what to do with that information, and I certainly won't go to bat for the higher ups that either perpetrated the abuse or covered it up now will I try and attack other people for bringing it up.

RedBedroomRecords

Yes and I believe that is why so many companies insist their games "aren't political" when it's obvious they don't truly believe that-because a decent portion of their games consumer games will throw a temper-tantrum at the faintest whiff of politics(see all those alt-right chuds whining about how Far Cry 5 promotes anti-white racism or some stupid shit like that) and Ubisoft would rather keep their business then risk alienating them.

RedBedroomRecords

Excellent video today. I've decided to stop supporting Ubisoft and won't be buying any of their new titles going forward. I would say this is a hard decision but honestly, it's not. Like its actually so fucking easy just to stop supporting a shitty company.

Zero

I think it's worth noting that (unfortunately) a lot of media outlet's readers want* this "duality of content" almost as much as ubisoft itself. I must admit that if I ran an outlet in between readers on one side and ubisoft on the other and most people on both sides were like "you will be more successful if you keep these issues separate" I would probably not be any more principled than most of these outlets. I don't know what that says about me, except maybe that it is good I don't run a game journalism website. *I might be wrong about this, I'm basing it mostly on the fact that we keep talking about the people who "don't want politics in their games" and this mindset feels like it would extend into "keep politics out of my game coverage" as it would fall under the same "I want to enjoy my vidya games without thinking about the bad stuff" mindset

Tommy Laukkanen