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The union representing workers at Ubisoft’s Paris office, Solidaires Informatique, went on strike on January 27, 2023 to protest CEO Yves Guillemot’s comments about the company’s crisis, which is being defined as catastrophic.
The bottom line is that the manager is trying to shift the blame for the bad results the company has recorded in recent years onto the employees, even in the face of deliberately wrong decisions, such as developing twelve battle royales at the same time.
As you’ll remember, Ubisoft has announced cuts to its revenue projections for the current fiscal year, delayed the launch of Skull and Bones to the next fiscal year, and canceled a total of seven games in development within six months.
Guillemot then wrote to the staff in an email that Kotaku saw:
“Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the road to success. I also ask each of you to be especially careful and strategic in spending and initiative so that we can be as efficient and economical as possible.”
Solidaires Informatique called the words “disastrous” and accused the CEO of planning “layoffs, silent studio closures, pay cuts and disguised layoffs“. She then wrote that “Mr. Guillemot tried several times to blame (again) the staffbefore adding:These words matter: overtime, pressure from managers, burnout, etc. Mr. Guillemot demands a lot from his employees, but without any compensation».
It appears that Ubisoft over the years has failed to raise wages in line with inflation, has not implemented a four-day work week (experimented with it in 2021 and then abandoned), and has not provided protection for the exhausted after the completion of their projects.
Therefore, the union is calling for an immediate 10% pay increase, better working conditions, more transparency in workforce development and specific commitments against hidden layoffs, condemning management policies that push employees to lay off.
The strike was only for Parisian workers because Solidaires Informatique is a French trade union.
