Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat among 4 other executives are on the lava floor when the regulatory commission for French stock market or Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has penalized the employees a for total of €1.2m or maybe more. This is a bad day for Ubisoft and its fans as it would leave a scar regardless if the allegations are true or not.
The report was posted at Kotaku, the AMF asserts that the 5 executives deliberately sold mass quantities of stock in early October of 2013, just days before the reveal that The Crew and Watch Dogs are going to be delayed until the next year. After the schedule slipped, Ubisoft stock dropped 26%.
Yannis Mallat, Ubisoft Montreal CEO was fined €700,000. Francis Baillet, Ubisoft VP of corporate affairs and Christine Burgess, Ubisoft worldwide studios exec director were fined €200,000 each. This is followed by Olivier Paris, Ubisoft Montreal VP of executive operations at €100,000 and Damien Moret, Ubisoft brand development director for €15,000.
Ubisoft has ever denied any wrongdoing, persistent that the ones involved have acted "in good faith" also, they also exclaimed that there is no way for any of the executives to have known about the delays as it is up to Yves Guillemot, the company's CEO. As stated in a dialogue with Eurogamer:
"...we believe that at the time they carried out their transactions these employees could not have been aware of or anticipate the subsequent decision to postpone the game that would be taken by Yves Guillemot on October 11, 2013,"
The company adds that the AMF's decision has represented serious misunderstanding of game development and its production process within their headquarters. They also have explained that each major game would require involvement of multiple teams across the company. Ultimately only the company's CEO can make an exceptional decision i.e. changing the release date of a major game.
Yannis Mallat has confirmed that him and all 4 employees associated in the AMF ruling will make an appeal to the decision.
