Following unions’ calls for the resignation of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, at least 1,200 employees from the company have kicked off a three-day strike. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the strike started on February 10th, and will end today. Solidaires Infomatique representative Marc Rutschlé said that the strikes have been in response to Ubisoft going ahead with its cost reduction plans, which will involve studio closures and lay-offs.
“At this stage, it seems clear to us that Yves Guillemot has no knowledge or understanding of his company or its employees,” he said. “The company is continuing its cost reduction and layoff plan. Our teams are already working under pressure, often understaffed. After several years without pay rises (or very small increases), we understand that once again, employees will not receive a raise this year.”
BlueSky user Mando also happened to be on-site for the strike, and provided several helpful pictures and videos of the employees speaking out against Ubisoft’s leadership. Among the points of contention between the workers and the company has been the latter’s insistence on enforcing a return-to-office mandate, which union members have previously called out as having the potential to cause quite a bit of damage to employees’ lives.
In the photos, several Ubisoft employees can be seen holding up signs noting that, “Stakeholders don’t make games. We do,” as well as “Fast travel is only in games! Don’t play with our lives.”
Rutschlé, along with fellow representative Chakib Mataoui had previously spoken out against Ubisoft leadership, noting that the company has been facing several issues due to nepotism and a lack of faith between the executives and the workers. “Sure. I expect nothing from this guy,” said Rutschlé.
“If you just put your white male friends in [those jobs], then you don’t promote any diversity or get any new opinions or ideas,” noted Matoui. “We are in a creative job. We need new ideas to come in to [help us] make great new games. But we don’t have that. We don’t have this mindset for creativity.”
“Most [employees] were very, very panicked by the [RTO] announcement because they started their lives very far from Paris and from their studios—and now they’re being asked to come back knowing that their paycheck doesn’t help with living in the Paris area,” he continued.
Ultimately, both of them have said that the only way that Ubisoft can move forward from this is with Guillemot’s departure. “I think Guillemot should move away at this point,” said Rutschlé. “I think the level of hate people have for him [means] he should move on. Then, we could build some sort of trust again.”
Speaking out against Ubisoft’s return-to-office mandate has landed some of the company’s employees in hot water. One notable instance involved level design team lead David Michaud-Cromp, who confirmed that the company had fired him as part of disciplinary action in response to his criticisms of the mandate.
“So… Ubisoft wanna bring back 5 days in the office… because they ‘believe in collaboration’… but c’mon, we’re not completely stupid… we very well know why you want to go back to 5 days in the office,” he wrote. “(Spoiler alert: it’s not about efficiency or collaboration)”
In its own statement, Ubisoft said that Michaud-Cromp had violated the company’s internal Code of Conduct, which resulted in his termination.
Woke up feeling like utter shit but worker solidarity trumps petty things like “oh god my insides”Standing with the local Ubisoft employees on strike
