Ubisoft Montpellier Evacuated After Bomb Threat Sent to Police

On 19 February, Ubisoft Montpellier, the studio behind Rayman and the long-in-development Beyond Good and Evil 2, was evacuated after a bomb threat email landed in the inbox of local gendarmerie in Castelnau-le-Lez, southern France.

Around 30 officers, including members of the PSIG intervention unit, rushed to the studio at 85 rue Didier-Daurat and established a security perimeter around the building, blocking nearby streets while teams began sweeping the site. Firefighters joined them, and bomb disposal specialists searched the building with a trained explosive detection dog, moving methodically room by room.

They found nothing.

Close to 500 Ubisoft employees were evacuated, alongside several hundred more from nearby buildings. In total, Dexerto reports around 800 people were cleared from the area before the all-clear was given.

Ubisoft confirmed the outcome in a statement shared with GameSpot: "After investigation, authorities have confirmed there is no credible threat to our Montpellier studio. As a precaution, we evacuated the building and worked with local authorities in accordance with our safety protocols. All employees are safe, and operations are resuming."

Short. Clinical. But between those lines, there were real people standing outside their workplace wondering whether it was safe to go back in.

The French games industry union STJV was less measured in tone. Their statement via Bluesky noted the genuine anxiety felt by workers and pointed out this was not an isolated incident, stating the studio had faced harassment before through threats and attempted intrusions. The union added that teleworking should have been offered to employees who felt too shaken to return to the office the following day.

This Is Not the First Time

Back in November 2020, employees at Ubisoft Montreal fled to the roof of their building amid reports of a potential hostage situation. Police later determined that call to be a hoax, with no injuries reported. The person behind it, Yanni Ouahioune, was eventually identified and sentenced to three years of community service along with mandatory mental health care.

Same company. Different country. Different year. Same playbook.

Whether the Montpellier threat was a targeted act of harassment toward the studio, a swatting-style hoax, or something else entirely, police are still investigating. No arrests have been announced at the time of writing.

What makes this particularly grim is the wider pattern it sits in. Gaming studios, streamers, and even individual developers have faced a steady stream of threats in recent years. Nintendo cancelled a live event in 2024 over credible danger to attendees, and that case eventually led to an arrest. Streamers have had police show up to their homes mid-broadcast. Some have developed serious psychological trauma because of it.

The people working at Ubisoft Montpellier did not deserve to spend their Thursday afternoon outside, not knowing if their workplace was safe. Nobody does.

Police are continuing their investigation into who sent the threat.