May 27, 2024 - The 2024 French Chamber of Commerce in China (CCI FRANCE CHINE) Gala, themed Celebrating Six Decades of Sino-French Brilliance was grandly held last Friday evening at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai. Against the backdrop of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, a group of French enterprises operating in China were recognized by CCIFC for their outstanding contributions. Among them, Ubisoft Shanghai Studio was awarded the Empowering Future Leaders Award for its initiatives in nurturing young talent and empowering women.
Yang Zhi Hong, Managing Director, Ubisoft Shanghai received the award from Wu Qian, Director, News Center and International Communication Center, Shanghai Media Group.
This award newly set this year aims to recognize companies that have been going above and beyond to foster future leaders, build a safe and inclusive workplace for everyone, as well as ensuring equal opportunities regardless of gender, ethnicity, or background.
As a subsidiary of Ubisoft, Ubisoft Shanghai boasts a diverse talent team of nearly 600 individuals from 15 countries. With women comprising 32% of its workforce, the studio leads the video game industry in promoting female representation, both in China and globally. The studio is committed to putting Diversity & Inclusion at the heart of everything so that all the team members can thrive, build open-minded communities where players can connect, and create games that reflect the diversity of the world where players actually live in. Ubisoft Shanghai takes one step further in empowering the development of youths and women with long-term initiatives.
Since 2019, the studio has developed an annual talent recruitment program ORIGIN which aims to provide career opportunities and tailored trainings to young people with great passion and high potential without any experience of game development. Thanks to this program, 56 people have entered the video game industry, and 50% of them have achieved positive career evolution at Ubisoft Shanghai so far.
A young team member was showcasing his work during ORIGIN trainings.
Since 2023, the company has embarked on an external mentorship initiative called Develop at Ubisoft - 她创力(She Creativity), a program to develop the future talent in the video game industry while prioritizing women empowerment without any recruitment agenda. In its first year, this program has provided mentorship to five young women and coached them throughout a simple game design process with the support of voluntary team members.
Young women and Ubisoft mentors got together at a small graduation ceremony for the Develop at Ubisoft - She Creativity program.
“For video game companies, the most valuable asset is talent. Their creativity and passion fuel the company’s development.” said Yang ZhiHong , Managing Director, Ubisoft Shanghai, “Ubisoft entered the Chinese market as early as 1996. By establishing and developing a full-fledged production studio, Ubisoft Shanghai has nurtured many talented developers and leaders for the Chinese video game industry.”
“At Ubisoft Shanghai, we encourage and empower our team members to own their career growth. On average, 13% of our team members have access to career evolution every year, either taking on bigger responsibilities with promotions or exploring more possibilities with job mobility across positions or locations within Ubisoft worldwide studios.” added Yi Jin JI , HR Director at Ubisoft Shanghai.