office Ubisoft Montpellier It was recently evacuated in response to a bomb threat. Although no one was injured, the threats raised questions and unnerved Ubisoft employees.
Scary moments like these are unfortunately something that has happened repeatedly in the gaming industry, including at other Ubisoft branches in the past. A similar scenario occurred in 2020 when a hostage situation was reported at Ubisoft Montreal. Although the incident turned out to be a hoax, it clearly created a lot of fear and tension.
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Ubisoft Montpellier faces bomb scare
On February 19, it was reported in France that Ubisoft Montpellier had developed the following game: raymanWe had to evacuate due to a bomb threat. An email was sent to state police claiming an explosive device was somewhere in or near the building, which prompted law enforcement to arrive on the scene and create a security perimeter. About 500 employees from Ubisoft's offices and hundreds more from nearby buildings were evacuated. Explosive experts and firefighters searched Ubisoft's offices but were unable to find any explosives.
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Ubisoft employees have since returned to the Montpellier studio, according to a GameSpot spokesperson. It's unclear whether the scammers are still able to pose a threat to the building, or if this is essentially a swatting prank or a false crime in progress that will result in police being called to the unsuspecting victim's location. People working at Ubisoft Montpellier and surrounding buildings were shaken by the threat, but fortunately no one was injured.
Unfortunately, this has become an all too common occurrence in the gaming industry. Big names like Nintendo, Capcom, and Insomniac Games have all faced threats to the studios themselves or the individual developers who work for them, which has led to the cancellation of gaming events and frayed nerves. The relative anonymity of the Internet allows some people to make frivolous threats when things don't go their way in a game. For example, performer Laura Bailey received death threats because players were upset about her character, Abby. the last of us part 2Studios and developers have received threats for everything from not providing updates quickly enough to the game not being as “good” as the individuals expected it to be.
In some cases, studios have threatened legal action against those who made the threats, while in others, suspects have been taken to court. In the Ubisoft case, Ubisoft Montreal's fraudulent hostage scenario resulted in the defendant being sentenced to three years of community service and mandatory mental health treatment. In another case, Nintendo ended up getting busted after being forced to cancel a live event in 2024 to protect employees and attendees from potential harm.
Gamers aren't immune to this kind of thing either. Swatting happens all too often, especially for streamers. These incidents have resulted in some streamers suffering from PTSD as police suddenly swarm their homes or offices and their streams are interrupted. In worst cases, swatting incidents can result in victims being killed by law enforcement. In such cases, the victims were not at all involved in the initial events leading up to the swatting and lost their lives as a result of the so-called prank. An arrest was made in this case, and the perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
For now, we'll just have to wait and see if police can find the person who made the fake bomb threat.
Source: Midi Libre
