Ubisoft reportedly has an anti-harassment plan in place for Assassin's Creed Shadows developers

With Ubisoft has reportedly implemented an anti-harassment plan for developers to protect them from potential backlash on social media.

tracking solidly," but it's still an ugly environment in which to launch the game.

"We're advised not to post on social media that we work at Ubisoft to avoid harassment," one employee told French site Google translated, via ResetEra). The company has also worked with a CSE—comité social et économique—at Ubisoft, which are employee-elected groups required for French companies with 11 or more employees represent and advocate for employees within the company.

Ubisoft also reportedly has psychological and legal in place for employees who are targeted because of their association with the game, and activity on social media platforms will be monitored by a dedicated team, backed by lawyers ready to file complaints where necessary.

"Unlike what we've had before, this is serious," the source said.

It's extremely unfortunate, to put it in the mildest possible, that this sort of thing is necessary, but increasingly it is necessary. Targeted harassment campaigns and torrents of random abuse continue to grow: In 2023, for instance, Bungie said Destiny 2 developers were being subjected to anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from similar abuse.

GDC's 2023problem for the industry; unsurprisingly, women are more likely to experience abuse from players than men, as are of the LGBTQ+ community.

"Our stance has always been that team ’ social media channels are their own," Ubisoft said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "Our top priority is the safety of our employees, including online, which is why, as a standard practice across Ubisoft, we offer guidance on navigating social media, digital safety, and for team ’ well-being. We also share resources to help prevent and protect against online harassment, something our teams have unfortunately faced."

Ubisoft has previously pushed back on some of that abuse: While CEO Yves Guillemot made a fruitless attempt to mollify angry gamers in 2024 by saying the company's "is not to push any specific agenda," creative leadership has been rather more forceful about it: In November 2024, franchise head Marc-Alexis Coté said developers throughout the industry "face the added challenge of distinguishing between genuine and attacks driven by intolerance," but added, "When we self-censor in the face of threats, we hand over our power, piece by piece, until freedom and creativity both wither away. We cannot let that happen."

Assassin's Creed Shadows comes out on March 20.

Correction: The report initially indicated that Ubisoft worked with Canada's Communications Security Establishment on its anti-harassment plan. Ubisoft clarified that CSE in the BFMTV story refers to Comité Social et Economique, which translates to "Social and Economic Committee."