Ubisoft Montreal and the false alarm: this is what happened

On yesterday's day, Ubisoft was at the center of attention due to some reports - which later turned out to be completely unfounded - which reported a situation with hostages in the offices of the headquarters in Montreal, in Canada. Anxious hours, of fear, which fortunately were resolved in the best way for Ubisoft employees and civilians in the area, thanks to the intervention of the forces of Police of Montreal. We have reported the events in real time, but here is a detailed explanation of the alleged attack at Ubisoft Montreal.

The first reports

Around the hours 19:30 of yesterday November 13 2020 (), some users on Twitter have started reporting the presence of a gunman inside the offices of Ubisoft Montreal, at the intersection of Saint-Laurent and St-Viateur. The tweets do not have time to be published, which immediately begin to make the rounds of the network, involving more and more users and producing more and more shares. We speak of a very serious situation, which is also commented by employees of other Ubisoft studios, such as Eric Pope, Senior Community Developer of the battle royale Hyper Scape, who was worried and shaken by the news.

Some citizens then published the first images, which they portrayed employees on the roof of the building, kept as hostages. In fact, as clarified by Cory Switzman, people were on the roof of Ubisoft Montreal as a matter of safety.

This makes it seem like the people on the roof are hostages .. they're there for safety, out of harms way. https://t.co/Ox4HxwmqT3

- Cory Switzman (@imqulsive) November 13, 2020

Police intervention and Ubisoft's response

THESPVM (the Montreal Police), had in fact placed the employees on the roof, so as to be able to verify that inside the building they were all at sure. Already a few minutes later, some Ubisoft Montreal employees communicated on their account Twitter to be safe and that, shortly thereafter, they would return home, as, after the police checks, no threats had been found. As confirmed by the SPVM in fact, after a careful verification operation, the building turned out to be safe and none of the threats highlighted by the various reports turned out to be true. At that point, all that was needed was to complete theevacuation of the building, to allow citizens and workers to return, safe and sound, to their homes.

I'm safe, team here is safe, going home.

- Anouk Wolf-Kissed Total Landscaping (@Valskuiken) November 13, 2020

A few hours after this unfortunate event ended, Ubisoft Montreal released a official announcement on her social channels, where she complimented the courage and the composure of their team, thanking the SPVM for their intervention.

We want to underline the courage and composure that the team has shown today, our goal remains to ensure their health and well-being. We also want to thank the SPVM for their quick and professional response, with which they helped us to bring the situation back under control. We are extremely relieved that everything was resolved without incident and we want to thank all of you for your support and your words.

https://twitter.com/UbisoftMTL/status/1327406771904929792?s=20

All is well that ends well, but still remains a 'unknown...

Where did it all start from?

Let's take a small step back now, to try to understand where it all started. In fact, the reports made via Twitter are all subsequent to the intervention of the SPVM, which had already promptly defined the possible danger zone and tried to enter the building to verify the situation. This is because the whole operation actually started following an anonymous call to 911, with which the police were warned of the presence of a gunman inside the Ubisoft studios.

As it was discovered, in reality, the statements made during the telephone conversation were completely unfounded and it is thought that it was a phone joke. Telephone joke on which, of course, the SPVM is still investigating and on which it will continue to work. It would therefore seem that it was the umpteenth case of swatting, a practice that consists in inventing an emergency situation to send the police units to a specific place.

The police operation in connection with a hostage taking call is over. No threat has been detected and no injuries are reported. An investigation will follow to shed light on the call behind this important police force deployment. #SPVM

Details ➡ https://t.co/dLBvQERo0n pic.twitter.com/LsnXoaVrza

- Police Montréal (@SPVM) November 14, 2020