In the opinion of Ubisoft Monetization Director Stevy Chassard, not only is it outright shameful for players to be celebrating the Assassin’s Creed Shadows developer’s ongoing struggles, but those within the industry exhibiting the same behavior are exposing themselves as “non-decent human being[s]”.
Chassard, who has served in his current position since first joining the studio in September 2022, offered this condemnation of his audience and industry peers in a now-deleted post originally shared to his personal LinkedIn page on October 1st.
Taking issue with the widespread cheering that poured out in response to Ubisoft leadership’s recent confirmations that Star Wars Outlaws had sold terribly, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was being delayed, and that the company has a whole would be undergoing an internal operations audit, Chassard declared, “I rarely post on social media, but today I am sad. Ashamed and sad.”
“The gaming industry is rough at the moment, we all know it. But seeing how ‘gamers’ react on social medias, wishing ill-fate to companies and people alike is sad, (and not only towards Ubisoft)” he then lamented. “Even though it is always the vocal minority that express themselves on social media, I was hurt, hurt and ashamed to be a part of this community.”
“What is even more revolting,” the Ubisoft director continued, “is coming on LinkedIn and seeing the same comments from people within the industry. On top of exposing yourself as a clearly non-decent human being, you are affecting thousands of employees that are already impacted by all the hate despite doing their best to deliver incredible experiences.”
“How can you wish a company to fail simply because they do not cater to you or that the product does not please you is beyond me,” Chassard ultimately concluded. “We are all on the same boat, please please please, stop spreading hate, we should all uplift each other instead of bringing each other down.”
Unsurprisingly, shortly after its publication, the Ubisoft employee’s post began to make the rounds across social media, drawing all the ire one would expect regarding such a blanket insult.
In turn, rather than further engage with the conversation, Chassard, without so much as a word or a follow-up statement, chose to instead wholesale delete the post.
Given Ubisoft’s aforementioned troubles – which have grown so unruly that the company is genuinely considering an emergency partnership with Tencent to take the company private – it’s unlikely that Chassard’s public lashing out will do anything to ‘help’ the studio’s current position.
After all, when fans are already fed up with a video game developer for their half-assed production cycles, over-reliance on microtransactions, and adherence to ‘modern audience messaging’ over historical realism, the general dismissal of their opinions is probably the last thing they’d meet with a favorable response.
Thanks to its delay, Ubisoft’s next major title, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, has been pushed back from its original November 2024 release date and will now hit shelves on February 14th, 2025.