Last week, Ubisoft revealed that they had weaker-than-expected software sales over the holiday season. The company also announced that they had canceled three unannounced titles and delayed Skull & Bones for the sixth time. The game is now set to be released during Ubisoft’s next fiscal year, which begins in April and runs through March 2024. During that time, Ubisoft is also planning to release Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and more yet-to-be-announced premium games. Ubisoft CEO released message to employees calling on them to steer the company to the right direction. Following this, French union Solidaires Informatique, a union of workers who organize all digital, consulting and video game unions, called on Ubisoft Paris workers to go on strike against the company.
“Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the path to success,” Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, wrote in an email to staff, a copy of which was viewed by Kotaku. “I am also asking that each of you be especially careful and strategic with your spending and initiatives, to ensure we’re being as efficient and lean as possible. The ball is in your court to deliver this line-up on time and at the expected level of quality, and show everyone what we are capable of achieving.”
In an official statement, Solidaires Informatique wrote: “According to Guillemot: The Ball is in our court (but the money stays in his pocket)”
“If the request to employees to be “especially careful and strategic with your spending” is ironic considering the company’s editorial strategy of the last few years, it is not funny. When Mr. Guillemot speaks of “attrition” and “organizational adjustments”, it means: staff reductions, discreet studio closures, salary cuts, disguised layoffs, etc.”
Solidaries Informatique says that Guillemot demands a lot from his employees but notes how the employees have not been compensated for their time, energy, and effort. “Have salaries kept up with the high inflation of recent years? What about the implementation of the 4-day week? What has been put in place for the teams that come out of the productions exhausted (like those of Just Dance or Mario)?”
Solidaries Informatique is demanding:
- an immediate 10% increase for all salaries, regardless of annual increases, to compensate for inflation. With the hundreds of millions of euros obtained from Tencent, there is money in the coffers of the employers.
- the improvement of working conditions, with in particular the implementation of the 4-day week.
- transparency on the evolution of the workforce, both locally and globally.
- a strong commitment against disguised dismissals and a condemnation of abusive managerial policies that push employees to resign.
They are calling on Ubisoft Paris employees to go on strike Friday, January 27 from 2 pm – 6 pm. Whether or not they do is something we’ll have to wait and see.