Ubisoft had recently offered employees at its Paris branch the option of being part of a “voluntary mutual termination agreement”, which would essentially involve laying off 200 of its employees. In response, French unions Solidaires Informatique, STVJV, and CFE CGC have asked Ubisoft Paris employees to simply “stop working” if CEO Yves Guillemot shows up at the office.
As caught by Le Figaro (via GamesRadar), a union pamphlet started making the rounds telling the employees that they should leave their desks and gather in front of the building when Guillemot shows up to the Ubisoft Paris offices during his planned February 3rd visit.
“It is time to make our boss understand that he is not welcome on our premises as long as he continues to mistreat his employees,” reads the pamphlet. “We call on the employees of Ubisoft Paris to stop working if Yves Guillemot steps foot in our offices. Leave your desks, and gather in front of the building.”
This is the second time French unions have been involved with Ubisoft this month. Following the company having recently announced major organizational overhauls resulting in project cancellations, Solidaires Informatique had called for a half-day strike on January 22. Referring to the overhaul as a “disastrous announcement”, the union made three demands of Ubisoft: providing “decent” pay raises this year, ending its cost-cutting plans, and maintaining and extending its remote working conditions and options.
“This is an initial answer to the absurdity of management’s decisions,” said Solidaires Informatique in a post announcing the half-day strike. “Other strikes are currently being discussed. It is out of the question to let a boss run wild and destroy our working conditions. Perhaps we need to remind [Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot] that it is his employees who make the games.”
As for the overhaul itself, Ubisoft has officially cancelled five projects, including Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. The company referred to this move as a “major organizational, operational, and portfolio reset to reclaim creative leadership and restore sustainable growth.”
The new structure going forward revolves around five “Creative Houses”, each of which will be responsible for specific franchises or genres. CH1, for instance, is Vantage Studios, which will focus on Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six. CH4, on the other hand, will focus on fantasy and narrative-driven franchises like Anno, Prince of Persia, Rayman, and Beyond Good and Evil, among others.
Along with this, Ubisoft had also announced that it was working on four new IPs, one of which is March of Giants, which the company had only recently acquired from Amazon Games.
Curiously, among the projects that escaped cancellation was Beyond Good and Evil 2, which has been in development for well over a decade at this point. Ubisoft went on to note that the title “remains a priority,” and will be developed by Creative House 4.
This announcement wasn’t met with much confidence from shareholders, with its stock prices falling by over 30 percent that day. While the company’s shares might be slowly recovering now, at the time of publishing, it is still sitting at €4.75 per share, down from its €5.23 price before the announcement.
