"You have to be fun to create fun." Thomas François, known as Tommy, a former vice president of Ubisoft's editorial department, invoked "Ubi culture" on Monday, June 2, as justification for the acts of sexual harassment, moral harassment and attempted sexual assault of which he is accused.

François was the first of three former executives from the video game giant to appear before the Bobigny criminal court, accused of leading and encouraging systemic sexual and moral harassment throughout the 2010s within the company.

Two other men are also implicated in these accusations and are scheduled to appear before the end of the trial on Friday: Serge Hascoët, then creative director, one of the highest-ranking figures in the company, and Guillaume Patrux, game director.

François nervously digressed throughout the entire day on the stand, at times interrupting the three judges questioning him, trying to justify some of the actions he is accused of by referring to "geek culture" and categorically denying others. Of the dozens of testimonies of sexist or sexual violence, François acknowledged only one: during a business trip, when he came down for breakfast and told colleagues, "I masturbated this morning," while brandishing his phone displaying a pornographic film. "I shouldn't have done that in front of a woman," he said.

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